Korean translation and validation of the multidimensional driving style inventory

The most used self-assessment method for assessing driving style is the Multidimensional Driving Style Inventory (MDSI). This study aims to adapt the MDSI to Korean drivers (MDSI-K) and confirm the eight-factor driving style structure of the original version. Six hundred forty drivers aged 20-70 agreed to participate in this study. All participants had at least one year of driving experience. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to determine whether the original MDSI fit the Korean driving style structure, and the goodness-of-fit values were not acceptable. Through correlation analysis, 11 survey questions were removed, and MDSI-K, which has the same structure as the original MDSI, was derived. Subsequent exploratory factor analysis yielded an 8-factor structure with several cross-loadings between factors. For more rigorous validation, Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling was employed, resulting in a refined model comprising 33 items across 8 factors, which incorporated these cross-loadings in the MDSI-K construction. We propose that these cross-loadings represent cultural differences in driving styles. In conclusion, the results of this study show that there is a common concept of driving style that has been previously investigated in various countries. This can be seen as a similarity in the driving culture commonly used across countries. On the other hand, the results of the different structures or survey questions for the same questionnaire by country and culture show differences between cultures.