Journal Article
Formative Measurement Scale Development: An Example Using Generalized Structured Component Analysis
pp16-26
© Jan 2020 Volume 18 Issue 1, Editor: Ann Brown, pp1 - 71
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Abstract
Unlike reflective measurement scales, the steps for development of formative measurement scales tend to be
highly subjective and involve mostly the judgment of the researcher. Formative scales have been criticized for this reason.
This paper extends Christophersen and Konradt’s (2008) method of joint development of a formative and reflective scale to
assess mutual validity of each scale. We utilize a second order method to reduce measurement error in the formative scale
as suggested by Edwards (2011), and test the efficacy of Generalized Structured Component Analysis (GeSCA) for this
purpose. For illustrative purposes, we utilize a sample of formative and reflective job satisfaction survey data both to test
our joint formative/reflective scale development technique and to assess which formative aspects of job satisfaction align
with commonly used reflective job satisfaction scales.