Psychometric properties of a scale to measure social entrepreneurship competency in Mexican university students

Abstract

Purpose The purposes of this study were to calculate the confirmatory factor analysis in the measurement model using robust measures (McDonald’s omega and Cronbach’s alpha) to ensure the reliability of the proposed scale and to explore the measurement invariance of the scale per the participants’ gender. Design/methodology/approach The methodological sample had 408 students from a private university in northern Mexico, of which 200 (49%) were male and 208 (51%) were female; the sample age range was 18–58 years (M = 22.4 years, SD = 6.0). The data analysis included descriptive and normality, dimensionality, reliability and measurement invariance. Findings The social entrepreneurship competency measurement model showed acceptable adjustment indexes in evaluating the internal structure, reliability and factorial invariance by gender of the study participants. Research limitations/implications Even though the contributions of this study are evident, these findings must be taken with caution due to some limitations. First, the proposed measurement model uses a self-reported scale, so it is essential to include other measurement methods with less implicit social desirability. Second, although the sample was intended to be representative, it only drew from a specific geographical area, making it difficult to generalize these findings to culturally diverse areas. Third, this study did not consider other validity measures; for example, concurrent, divergent and predictive, so future studies should consider examining the relationship of social entrepreneurship with other factors. Practical implications From the practical perspective, this study provides a parsimonious instrument regarding the number of items included in the measurement model. From the theoretical perspective, the present study contributes to delimiting the dimensions of social entrepreneurship competency. Originality/value This study contributes to the field of social entrepreneurship, particularly in the area of construct measurement, by offering a measurement model with solid evidence of internal structure validity, reliability and factorial invariance for the perceived achievement of social entrepreneurship competency.