Factor analysis and Mokken scaling of the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire in nurses

To generate an Arabic version of the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire that would be easily understood by Arabic speakers and would be sensitive to Arabic culture.

The nursing workforce in Saudi Arabia is undergoing a process of Saudization but there is a need to understand the factors that will help to retain this workforce.

No organizational commitment tools exist in Arabic that are specifically designed for health organizations. An Arabic version of the organizational commitment tool could aid Arabic speaking employers to understand their employees' perceptions of their organizations.

Translation and back-translation followed by factor analysis (principal components analysis and confirmatory factor analysis) to test the factorial validity and item response theory (Mokken scaling).

A two-factor structure was obtained for the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire comprising Factor 1: Value commitment; and Factor 2: Commitment to stay with acceptable reliability measured by internal consistency. A Mokken scale was obtained including items from both factors showing a hierarchy of items running from commitment to the organization and commitment to self.

This study shows that the Arabic version of the OCQ retained the established two-factor structure of the original English-language version. Although the two factors - 'value commitment' and 'commitment to stay' - repudiate the original developers' single factor claim.

A useful insight into the structure of the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire has been obtained with the novel addition of a hierarchical scale.

The Organizational Commitment Questionnaire is now ready to be used with nurses in the Arab speaking world and could be used a tool to measure the contemporary commitment of nursing employees and in future interventions aimed at increasing commitment and retention of valuable nursing staff.