Date

6-16-2025

Department

School of Behavioral Sciences

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD)

Chair

Natalie Hamrick

Keywords

belonging, belongingness, sense of belonging, workplace, scale development, scale validation

Disciplines

Human Resources Management | Psychology

Abstract

In this dissertation, I describe the development and validation of the Sense of Belonging in the Workplace Scale (SBWS). A comprehensive, multidisciplinary review of the belonging construct revealed five key components of a sense of belonging in the workplace: (1) accepted/liked, (2) known/understood, (3) purpose/status, (4) respected/voice, and (5) safety/trust. Scale validation began with a review of 40 initial items by a panel of 12 subject matter experts (SMEs). The items were then revised, and a pilot study involving 67 participants was conducted to test these 40 items through exploratory factor analysis and construct validation. The top-performing 25 items were then tested in a third study with 347 participants for confirmatory factor analysis and construct validation. The five components were supported by the SME review and the confirmatory factor analysis mean factor loadings but did not result in distinct subscales on the SBWS. I used exploratory factor analysis with principal axis factoring and parallel analysis to determine the 25-item SBWS’s unidimensionality. This was confirmed with a confirmatory factor analysis; despite the significant Chi-square value [χ 2 (275) = 325.82, p = .019] indicating model misfit, other fit indices (CFI = 0.971; TLI = 0.968; RMSEA = 0.024, 90% CI [0.012, 0.032], SRMR = 0.043) supported an excellent fit. Factor loadings ranged from 0.342 to 0.630, all significant (p < .001), providing further support for the scale’s unidimensionality. Cronbach's alpha tests indicated good inter-item reliability of the scale (α = 0.91, N=345-347, k = 25). The SBWS also demonstrated good convergent validity using Cockshaw and Shochet’s (2010) Psychological Sense of Organizational Membership scale (ρ (345) = .59, p < .001) and Chung et al.’s (2020) Workgroup Inclusion Measure – Belongingness Component (ρ (345) = .81, p < .001), as well as moderate discriminant validity using Coelho et al.’s (2020) six-item Need for Cognition Scale (ρ (345) = .35, p < .001). The SBWS provides a robust tool for both theoretical exploration and practical applications in assessing workplace belonging.

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