A Novel Construct To Measure Employees’ Technology-Related Experiences of Well-Being: Empirical Validation of the Techno-Work Engagement Scale (TechnoWES)

• Main Authors: Jaana-Piia Mäkiniemi, Salla Ahola, Johanna Joensuu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Stockholm University Press 2020-04-01
• Series: Scandinavian Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology
• Subjects: work engagement; technology; techno-work engagement; technostress; confirmatory factor analysis; validation
• Online Access: https://www.sjwop.com/articles/79

Because of the current developments in digitalization, novel technological solutions have changed work processes and accordingly influenced employee well-being. There is a lack of measures of positive well-being experiences regarding technology at work. Therefore, the current study introduces a novel construct—namely techno-work engagement—and a scale to measure it. Techno-work engagement is defined as a positive experience of well-being regarding the use of technology at work. The study tested the factorial, discriminant, and convergent validity of the scale, TechnoWES-9. Using data from two samples, the factor structure of the construct was analyzed with a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). In addition, in Study 2, CFAs, correlations, and mean differences were used to assess the discriminant and convergent validity and whether the shorter scale can be used as an alternative to the longer one. The results concerning the factorial validity support the view that techno-work engagement is better represented as a three-factor than as a unidimensional construct. Like TechnoWES-9, TechnoWES-3 is positively correlated with technology-related job resources; also, both can be discriminated from technostress. TechnoWES-9, although not flawless, is a reliable and valid indicator of techno-work engagement, and the shorter version can be used as its alternative. In the future, the relationships between work engagement, technostress, and techno-work engagement could be measured and the scale could be tested in different countries and occupations.