Psychometric evaluation of the UWES and OLBI within the cement industry

Abstract

In order to be sustainable, companies have to adapt in the ever–changing market and economic conditions which are often unpredictable. The adaptation to these challenges rests with employees who have to stay motivated and psychologically well. The environmental working conditions are often undesirable The objective of this study was to evaluate the psychometric performance of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) and the Oldenburg Burnout inventory (OLBI) within the cement factory. A random sampling approach was adopted by distributing a questionnaire for the purposes of achieving the general research objective with an availability sample (N = 187). The UWES and OLBI were administered. Exploratory factor analysis, descriptive statistics, Cronbach alpha coefficients, Pearson product–moment correlations and MANOVA's were used to analyse the data. The outcome of the study through literature review confirmed that work engagement and burnout are two important components of employee wellbeing. The factor loadings of the UWES and OLBI resulted in a two–factor structure for both the UWES and OLBI. The two factor structure for the UWES were labelled as Vigour/Dedication and Absorption. The twofactor structure for the OLBI was labelled Disengagement and Exhaustion. A small number of items were retained for the OLBI. The internal consistency of the UWES was found to be well above the acceptable level with the alpha coefficients exceeding 0,70. The internal consistency for the OLBI was found to be lower than the 0,70 level. Data analysis further showed that correlations between engagement and burnout were statistically insignificant. Data analysis also showed that there were no significant differences for age and gender for both engagement and burnout, however there is a significant difference in race and language with regard to engagement but none for burnout. Limitations within the study were identified and recommendations for future research were made.