I hereby declare that the dissertation Adapting and validating the Strengths Use and Deficit Improvement Questionnaire for educators in Gauteng by Rachéle Paver was edited by me. Title: Adaptation and validation of the Strengths Utilization and Deficit Improvement Questionnaire for educators in Gauteng. Title: The adaptation and validation of the 'Strengths Use and Deficit Improvement Questionnaire' for teachers in South Africa.
The purpose of this mini-dissertation is to determine the psychometric properties of an adapted version of the Strengths Utilization and Disadvantage Improvement Questionnaire (SUDIQ) for teachers in Gauteng.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Despite the fact that considerable research has indicated the value of identifying one's strengths, Wood et al. 2010) expressed the concern that the focus of these theoretical frameworks is simply on the possession of strengths instead of the extent to which people use their strengths. It is clear that POS for strengths use will not only aim to encourage employees to achieve their goals; consequently, it will also contribute to the bottom line of the organization, and can therefore be considered a job resource. To explain the origin of the two individual dimensions of the SUDIQ, namely proactive behavior regarding strength use and deficit improvement, one must place emphasis on the definition of proactive behaviour.
By adapting the SUDIQ, educational institutions and teachers can be directed to better understand the benefits associated with leveraging strengths and improving deficits, encouraged from an individual and organizational perspective.
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
General Objective
Discriminant validity with those constructs from which it is supposed to differ (ie age and education); and.
Specific Objectives
H3: The four SUDIQ dimensions are related to theoretically similar constructs (use of strengths, job resources, psychological capital, proactive behavior, and person-work fit).
RESEARCH METHOD
- Literature Review
- Research Design
- Research Participants
- Measuring Instruments
- Statistical Analysis
- Ethical Considerations
The Strengths Use Scale (Govindji & Linley, 2007) will be used to measure the use of strengths. Three resources are assessed, namely autonomy (four items), supervisor support (four items), and coworker support (four items). The PsyCap questionnaire is scored on a 6-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 6 = strongly agree).
Confirmatory factor analyzes (CFA) will be used to determine the factorial validity of the scales.
OVERVIEW OF THE CHAPTERS
The practical significance of correlation coefficients will be set at a cut-off value of 0.30 (medium effect) and 0.50 (large effect, Cohen, 1988). Multiple regression analyzes will be conducted to determine the variance predicted in the dependent variables (energy, commitment, emotional exhaustion, and depersonalization) by the independent variables (the four SUDIQ dimensions). The research proposal was reviewed by the ethics committee of North-West University.
CHAPTER SUMMARY
Using personal and psychological strengths leads to increases in well-being over time: a longitudinal study and strengths development using a questionnaire. Research objective: To determine whether an adapted version of the newly developed Strengths Use and Deficit Improvement Questionnaire (SUDIQ) is valid and reliable. Confirmatory factor analysis, convergent, discriminant, and empirical validity were used to determine the validity and reliability of the SUDIQ.
It also focuses exclusively on the use of strengths and therefore excludes the measurement of the development of deficits. For the purpose of this study, an adapted version of the SUDIQ, applicable to educators in the South African context. It is postulated that significant correlations will be visible between constructs of the SUDIQ and similar theoretical constructs such as strength use, work resources (autonomy, supervisor support and colleague support), psychological capital (self-efficacy, hope, resilience and optimism), proactive. behavior and person-job fit.
The purpose of the Strengths Use Scale is to measure the extent to which people use their strengths in the workplace (Govindji & Linley, 2007). As noted above, due to the nature of perceived organizational support for using strengths and perceived organizational support for improving deficits, these can be considered job resources. Considerable value regarding the validity of the SUDIQ can be gained by empirically demonstrating discriminant validity (Campbell, 1959).
The rho coefficients (ωh - the proportion of variance explained by the factor divided by the total variance; Wang & Wang, 2012) and the Cronbach alpha coefficients were used (Clark & Watson, 1995) to assess the internal consistency of the constructs set. Furthermore, the participants' education was virtually unrelated to the SUDIQ constructs. The results of the Pearson correlations revealed a significant relationship between the SUDIQ constructs and strengths use.
Moreover, the educational level of the participants was also virtually unrelated to any of the SUDIQ dimensions. These findings can be explained in light of the demand control model (DCM; Karasek, 1979). This study aimed to help educational institutions better understand the benefits of encouraging teachers to take advantage of their strengths and develop their weaknesses.
CONCLUSIONS
As predicted, the hypothesized measurement model (Model 1) resulted in a four-factor structure consisting of perceived organizational support in advantage utilization, perceived organizational support in deficit improvement, proactive advantage utilization behavior, and proactive deficit improvement behavior. The results yielded reliable values for perceived organizational support in advantage use, α = 0.97; perceived support for improving the organizational deficit, α = 0.94; proactive behavior towards taking advantage, α = 0.94; and proactive deficit improvement behavior, α = 0.95. Specifically, the most significant relationships were found between perceived organizational support for strengths and perceived organizational support for improving weaknesses, proactive behavior for using strengths, and using strengths.
Perceived organizational support for improving deficits was strongly related to proactive behavior toward improving deficits. Proactive behavior toward strengths use indicated a strong correlation with strengths use, hope, and proactive behavior. Moderate relationships were also identified between perceived organizational support for using strengths and perceived organizational support for improving deficits, autonomy, supervisor support, hope, optimism, proactive behavior, and person-job fit.
Perceived organizational support for deficit improvement had a significant correlation (medium effect) with proactive behavior towards force use, force use, proactive behavior and person-job fit. Finally, proactive behavior towards deficit improvement correlated significantly (medium effect) with strength use, self-efficacy, hope, optimism, proactive behavior and person-job fit. Results revealed that participant age was, as expected, unrelated to perceived organizational support for deficit improvement, proactive behavior toward use of force, and proactive behavior toward deficit improvement.
Similarly, weak statistically significant relationships were reported between the education level of participants and perceived organizational support for strengths use, perceived organizational support for deficit improvement and proactive behavior regarding deficit improvement. Engagement was predicted by three of the SUDIQ dimensions, namely perceived organizational support for strengths use, proactive behavior towards strengths use and proactive behavior towards deficit improvement.
LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH
Contrary to popular belief, these efforts can sometimes be justified because it goes against one's natural abilities and talents; resulting in negative and unhelpful expectations or beliefs. Wood, Linley, Maltby, Kashdan, & Hurling (2010) conducted a longitudinal study and reported that using strengths significantly reduced perceived stress levels. Research from Gallup confirmed that the more often people play to their strengths, the less likely they are to feel stressed, worried or angry (Gallup, 2012).
However, the findings of the current study cannot be generalized to other industries and occupations and must therefore be interpreted with caution as the sample was fairly homogeneous. The sample consisted primarily of white, Afrikaans-speaking women, suggesting not only racial homogeneity, but also that the results may not be relevant when other demographic groups are considered. South Africa is known for its culturally diverse population; therefore, it is crucial to represent a sample that reflects a true indication of racial, ethnic, cultural, and gender diversity.
Considering educational institutions from other provinces may increase the reliability of the findings and also reveal different results regarding the degree of teacher engagement and burnout. A common drawback of such a design is that the nature, causes, and effects of the expected relationships cannot be made. Considering that SUDIQ is still in its infancy, it is of great importance to further validate the hypothesized relationships and possible consequences.
As a result, this may indicate an inaccurate representation of the overall engagement and burnout levels of the schools involved. Given that the SUDIQ is a newly developed scale that has only been validated in limited research settings, it is unclear whether this problem will also arise in other studies.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Recommendations for Educational Institutions
Consequently, these relationships had to be interpreted through literature, rather than corroborating these findings with evidence. It is likely that teachers who are more involved and committed to their school will be more interested and willing to complete the questionnaire than teachers who are not. The last, but perhaps most notable limitation is that when several independent variables are very closely correlated with each other, multicollinearity occurs.
The problem with such an occurrence is that some metrics can be repetitive and redundant. It is therefore clear that teachers, leveraging their strengths and striving to improve on their weaknesses, viewing the schools as engaged and supportive of their development, contribute to an engaged workforce. The primary objective of this study was to provide evidence of good psychometric properties for the modified SUDIQ specifically adapted for teachers.
By confirming its validity and reliability, suggestions can be made regarding strengths-based and deficit-based interventions to be applied to teachers. This study also aims to provide schools and teachers with a better understanding of the benefits associated with adopting a holistic approach, taking into account strengths and weaknesses. The results of this study showed that using strengths and improving weaknesses, both from an organizational and individual perspective, are related to teachers feeling more hopeful, optimistic, proactive, and fit for their jobs.
An important and parallel way to increase teacher engagement would be for teachers to develop the necessary attitudes and competencies for more effective management of problematic work situations; more specifically, to effectively use your strengths and improve your areas of weakness.
Recommendations for Future Research
Following a strength- and deficit-based approach: The development and psychometric properties of a new scale.
