Human resources competencies scale development and validation: an Iranian measure

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is standardize and provide a multidimensional measure for assessing human resources competencies (HRCs) scale. Design/methodology/approach The data collected in this study were 2018 from the 234 people selected from 603 managers and experts in human resources of selected firms existing in the Yazd Industrial Town randomly. Based on the model of HRCs designed by Ulrich et al. (2008), a questionnaire was developed to assess HRCs. Internal consistency and split-half methods were used to obtain the reliability of the instrument. Content validity and construct validity of the instrument were also assessed through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Findings This paper elucidates a key scale for assessing HRCs including three dimensions: knowledge business, functional expertise and managing change. Also, results revealed that two items were then dropped from the questionnaire as they were unreliable, and a final 31 items were extracted to form the scale for assessing HRCs. The coefficients for Cronbach’s α and split-half were 0.963 and 0.947, respectively. In EFA, Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test yielded optimal 0.962, and Bartlett’s test was statistically significant. Additionally, three factors with eigenvalues higher than 1 explained 63% of the total variance. Hence, CFA confirmed the results from EFA too. Moreover, the model proved to enjoy a good fit. Practical implications The scale is useful for both researchers and practitioners. Also, the scale provides researchers with a sought-after conceptualization of HRCs. Originality/value Consequently, considering that the validity and reliability indices of HRCs were estimated to be desirable, the authors believe that the developed questionnaire can be used as an appropriate scale for measuring HRCs in future research.