The Newly developed competitiveness orientation measure : psychometric development and evaluation

Abstract

The concept of competitiveness as a personality trait has been alluded to for over 70 years; yet, it has surprisingly been largely neglected as an individual differences variable. Instead, researchers have focused on the application of competitiveness to more context-specific environments, such as sports, academics and occupational settings. In spite of the potential utility of identifying individual differences in competitiveness, there currently exists no psychometrically valid, broadly applicable and unified measure of these differences. Furthermore, a review of the literature, has illuminated the need for at least two underlying dimensions of this trait; Dominant and Personal-Enhancement competitiveness. Thus, the goal of the present study is to provide preliminary construct-validity and confirmation of the factor structure of a new measure of competitiveness: the Competitiveness Orientation Measure. The initial 137-item Competitiveness Orientation Measure was tested in two independent samples of 886 University, and community participants. Examination of item-total correlations, discrimination indices and factor analysis procedures using Horn's Parallel Analysis and the Velicer's test resulted in the retention of 37 final items with Cronbach's alpha reported as .96 and split-half reliability reported as .93. Retained items supported past theoretical accounts of Dominant and Personal-Enhancement competitiveness in addition to two newly-emerged dimensions corresponding to General Competitiveness and Pervasive Competitiveness. Theoretically, the Competitiveness Orientation Measure is the first comprehensive, psychometrically valid scale that adequately captures individual differences in competitiveness across four dimensions. Multidimensional differences in competitiveness may serve to differentiate competitors' success in sports, occupational and academic contexts.