Structural validity of the emotional quotient inventory (EQi) within an insurance company

Abstract

In the world of work, psychological instruments are often used for the purposes of selection and development (Van de Vijver & Rothmann, 2004). According to Van der Merwe (1999), psychological tests are commonly used to determine whether employees have the necessary skills for a specific job. However, much controversy still exists about the use of such instruments, particularly in the multicultural South African context, as not all psychometric tests accommodate individuals from different cultures and different socio-economic and educational backgrounds. The objective of this study was to assess the structural validity of the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQi) developed by Bar-On. The EQi measurement consist of 133 items and was completed by a total of 1 104 participants in the South African insurance sector drawn by means of convenient sampling. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed, from which only nine factor loadings resulted out of an anticipated fifteen. Overall, the factor loadings did not provide a good representation of the Bar-On theoretical model. In addition, a confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to test if the data fitted the Bar-On EQI theoretical model. The results suggest a poor fit and therefore the structural validity of the EQI can be questioned for the respondents from an insurance company.