Exploring the equivalence of the Aviation Gender Attitude Questionnaire for South African and Australian pilots : a cross-cultural comparison

Abstract

The aim of this study was to establish the differential item functioning and construct equivalence of the Aviation Gender Attitude Questionnaire (AGAQ) to determine the generalizability of the instrument across 2 national cultures (South African and Australian). Data were collected from 544 South African and 1,064 Australian aircraft pilots and analyzed by means of various analytical procedures. To establish the intercultural equivalence of the AGAQ, multivariate methods for item analysis and the comparison of factor structures were used. This included analysis of variance, exploratory factor analysis, Procrustean rotation, and the application of single- and multigroup confirmatory factor analysis. The item-level statistics revealed acceptable item discrimination values, satisfactory item and scale reliabilities, and the absence of item bias for the AGAQ across the 2 cultures. The scale-level statistics confirmed the equivalence of the AGAQ scales for both samples in the aviation contexts. It was unequivocally established that the AGAQ is a valid and culturally nonbiased measure that can be used to assess South African and Australian aviators' perceptions of gender-related pilot behavior.