The construct validity of union commitment: Development and dimensionality of a shorter scale

This paper presents two studies examining the dimensionality and construct validity of the union commitment scale (Gordon, Philpot, Burt, Thompson & Spiller, 1980). In the first study, analysis of the 20‐item (Friedman & Harvey, 1986) and 30‐item (Gordon et al ., 1980) versions of the scale in two large samples ( N = 229 and N = 551) suggests that ( a ) both versions of the scale share a common factor structure and ( b ) the interpretation of the belief in unionism dimension is confounded with the use of negatively worded items. We propose a shorter 13‐item scale measuring union loyality, responsibility to the union and willingness to work for the union. In the second study ( N = 847), the dimensionality and construct validity of the shorter scale is examined and supported.