Turkish adaptation of work group inclusion scale: its association with occupational stress, self-efficacy, and mental well-being

Abstract

In the Turkish context, there is a growing need for psychometrically sound measurement tools that can validly and reliably assess this construct, given cultural differences that may influence individuals’ responses and the limited availability of context-specific scales. The aim of this study was to adapt the Work Group Inclusion Scale into Turkish and examine its psychometric properties in a teacher sample. The study was conducted in two stages. In Study 1, linguistic equivalence and construct validity were tested with 445 teachers, and item-level psychometric properties were examined using Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Item Response Theory. Findings revealed that the two-dimensional structure demonstrated acceptable fit values in the Turkish sample, that the items had high discriminatory power, and that the reliability coefficients were forceful. Criterion validity analyses found significant relationships between work group inclusion and organizational commitment and loneliness at work. In Study 2, the scale was administered to 422 teachers, and Structural Equation Modeling was performed to examine the mediating roles of occupational stress and self-efficacy in the relationship between work group inclusion and psychological well-being. All analyses were conducted using SPSS, AMOS, Stata, and JASP software packages. The findings provided evidence for the construct validity of the scale. Concurrent validity was supported through significant associations with the three related variables examined. Analyses showed that work group inclusion was negatively associated with occupational stress, positively associated with self-efficacy, and positively associated with mental well-being. Mediation analyses confirmed that occupational stress played a negative mediating role and self-efficacy played a positive mediating role. The model's fit indices were found to be acceptable. In conclusion, the Work Group Inclusion can be used as a valid and reliable measurement tool in Turkish culture. The findings of the present study demonstrate that teachers' perception of inclusion in their workgroups is related to their mental well-being through occupational stress and self-efficacy, offering significant contributions to inclusive school climate practices