Psychometrics of the Persian version of the scale for assessing the autonomous work behavior of faculty members in Iran

Background: The autonomy of faculty members is vital for making the right decision in their work and professional development. Given the need and lack of appropriate tools to measure the autonomous work behavior of faculty members, the current study was conducted with the collaboration of the faculty members from Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, aiming at assessing the psychometrics of the Persian version of a scale for assessing autonomous work behavior of faculty members in Iran.

Methods: The Persian version of a scale developed by Evers et alwas validated in this psychometric study. A total of 480 faculty members were selected using convenience sampling. After translation and cultural adaptation, face and content validity and reliability were checked, and construct validity was calculated using confirmatory factor analysis with Lisrel factor analysis software.

Results: Of the 480 study participants, 225 (46.9%) were males, and 255 (53.1%) were females. The mean age of the subjects was 37.39±7.58 years. The majority (360; 75%) had the rank of assistant professor, and 360 (75%) had less than 15 years of work experience. Content validity among 20 experts was 0.88. Confirmatory factor analysis for all 25 items loaded across four factors, and this four-factor scale showed a good fit in the Iranian community. Reliability using Cronbach’s alpha was calculated at 0.85, and 0.9 using the test-retest method.

Conclusion: The Persian version of this scale has good validity and reliability in Iran and is a useful tool for assessing the autonomous work behavior of faculty members that educational administrators can use.