Work volition and career control in retail workers

• Published in: Australian journal of career development Vol. 32; no. 2; pp. 147 - 157
• Main Authors: Taylor, Andrew J, Perera, Harsha N, Hoare, P Nancey, Salama, Mary, McIlveen, Peter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Camberwell, Vic SAGE Publications 01.07.2023
• Subjects: Attitudes; Career Choice; Career development; Construct Validity; Decision Making; Economic aspects; Employee Attitudes; Employees; Factor Structure; Foreign Countries; Gender Differences; Income; Invariants; Measures (Individuals); Retail trade; Retailing; Self-efficacy; Socioeconomic Status; Vocational Adjustment; Wages; Australia; Work volition scale; and retail workers; invariance; construct validity; bifactor
• ISSN: 1038-4162; 2200-6974
• DOI: 10.1177/10384162231165124

TheWork Volition Scale (WVS) is a brief measure of the perceived capacity to make career decisions despite constraints; however, systematic validation of item responses to the scale is still in its infancy. The present article reports on research conducted to investigate the latent structure of WVS, its invariance across gender, and mean differences in work volition across income in a sample of retail workers. A bifactor structure of the WVS accounted for construct-relevant multidimensionality in scores due to the presence of general and specific volition dimensions. Tests of gender invariance revealed the equivalence of item loadings, thresholds, uniquenesses, and factor means. Support was also found for plausible latent mean differences in general volition across income, with retail workers earning high wages reporting greater volition than those earning low wages. Finally, evidence was obtained for theoretically meaningful relations of the general and specific volition dimensions with career control.