Workplace Isolation-Exploring the Construct & Its
Measurement Concept of Virtual OfficeConcept of remote office,
outsourced settings, growing trend in todays work
environmentMarketing roles-selling function largely impacted
Perception of isolation-socially, organizationallyWorkplace
IsolationPresent studyDefines Workplace Isolation construct that is
critical, demonstrates workplace isolation and loneliness and
social isolationDevelop a psychometrically valid and reliable scale
to measure employee perception of workplace isolationWorkplace
isolationBased on previous studies, workplace isolation is
conceptualized as a construct that has 2 dimensionsColleagues:
Represent the perception of isolation from the co-workers when the
need for casual interactions, friendship and camaraderie are not
metCompany: Represents the perception of isolation from the company
when the need for work based support from both superiors and
organization is not metMethodInitial item scale generationItems
from existing scales measuring constructs such as loneliness,
alienation and social isolation Interviews: Virtual employees and
traditional employees65 items developed on 7 point Likert type
scale. Inter-correlations studied and items with low correlation
were eliminated28 items that reflect the extent to which
individuals perceiving themselves as interaction with co-workers
and part of organizational networkPhase 1: Exploratory Factor
AnalysisConducted on 435 evening MBA and senior UG business
studentsExploratory factor analysis of 28 items with the use of PFA
was completed to identify the number of factors associated with the
constructVarimax rotation produced a structure with 19 items on two
factors. Two subscales identifiedInternal consistency reliability
analysis of each subscale done (items were examined for correlation
with subscale total score). Table 2 & 3
Phase 2: Confirmatory factor analysisData collection on a
concentrated group of virtual employees outside office settings415
respondents.Single factor model was first tested with all 12 items
in the scale followed by two factor model. Comparison of the
results indicated two factor model fit better than the single
factor model. 2 items were removed to improve the fitPhase 3:
Nomological validity1500 virtual workers all different from the
prior samples. 309 completed responsesInvestigate the relationship
of workplace isolation scale to a network of work attitude
variables80 item questionnaire. Current experience on the job
partialled out to ensure that experience do not confound the
validity evidenceColleagues and Company subscales show significant
correlation with each of the organization outcome variablesPhase 4:
Discriminant validity177 responses (MBA, senior UG students)WI
scale tested with Emotional and Social Loneliness ScaleColleague
and Company subscales had low correlations (.20 and 12,
respectively) with emotional loneliness and moderate correlations
(.40 and .38) with social lonelinessEvidence that the work place
isolation subscales are measuring differing aspects of isolation,
but also discernibly differing constructs from scales that measure
lonelinessFactor structure verificationUnique nature of the
confirmatory sample, post-hoc analysis to compare factor structures
of the confirmatory sample and the discriminatory validity
sampleConfirmed that factor structure is the same for the 2
samplesFactorial invariance implies that items comprising the
measurement instrument exhibit the same configuration across
different samplesLimitationsUse of subjective scales and
self-reports to assess attitudes and behaviors can inflate
correlation due to common method bias. Mitigated by guaranteeing
anonymity and carefully dispersing reverse scored items during data
collection processDespite the correlation of the 2 sub-scales,
results of the confirmatory factor analysis provides clear evidence
of the existence of two factors as opposed to single factorThank
You
