Development and Psychometric Properties of Work Information Anxiety Questionnaire

Zhanmei Song; Jiayang Ye; Xudong Song; Zheng Zhang; Peiyun Xu; Hongmei Shen

doi:10.2147/PRBM.S435356

Development and Psychometric Properties of Work Information Anxiety Questionnaire

Psychol Res Behav Manag. 2023 Nov 10:16:4629-4646. doi: 10.2147/PRBM.S435356. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Zhanmei Song^#¹, Jiayang Ye^#², Xudong Song³, Zheng Zhang⁴, Peiyun Xu⁵, Hongmei Shen⁶

Affiliations

¹ College of International Education, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou, People's Republic of China.
² College of Education, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou, People's Republic of China.
³ School of Public Administration and Policy, Renmin University of China, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, National Center for Mental Disorders, and National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, Changsha, People's Republic of China.
⁵ School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China.
⁶ School of Public Administration, Beihang University, Beijing, People's Republic of China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to develop and validate the Work Information Anxiety Questionnaire (WIAQ), and to report on the psychometric properties of the WIAQ.

Methods: Based on the Approach-Avoidance Conflict theory, and combining previous literature reviews and open-ended interviews, initial scale items for the Work Information Anxiety Questionnaire were developed. Using 324 full-time corporate employees as subjects (Sample 1), an exploratory structural examination of work information anxiety was conducted, including item analysis, exploratory factor analysis, and network analysis. An additional 210 corporate employees were selected for formal testing (Sample 2), and the obtained data underwent structural validation, including confirmatory factor analysis, validity testing, and reliability testing.

Results: The WIAQ (9 items) exhibited a two-factor structure of reception anxiety and missing out anxiety, with a cumulative variance contribution rate of 67.56%. The confirmatory factor model showed good model fit, with cross-group and cross-measurement stability. The Cronbach's α of the WIAQ was 0.899, and the McDonald's ω of the two factors were 0.906 and 0.831 respectively. The WIAQ demonstrated good criterion-related validity with the SAS and DASS.

Conclusion: The factor structure of the WIAQ is clear, and its reliability and validity indicators meet psychometric requirements. It can serve as an effective tool for measuring work information anxiety.

Keywords: approach-avoidance conflict theory; missing out anxiety; network analysis; reception anxiety; work information anxiety.

Grants and funding

Major Cultivating Projects of Leading Talents in Philosophy and Social Sciences of Zhejiang Province “Aiming for Common Prosperity: Improvement and Evaluation of Early Childcare Quality Driven by Multimodal Data Fusion” (23YJRC13ZD).