Development and Psychometric Properties of Work Information Anxiety Questionnaire

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:

• work information anxiety
• reception anxiety
• missing out anxiety
• approach-avoidance conflict theory
• network analysis

Data Sharing Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Ethics Approval and Informed Consent

Our study has been performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Prior to the start of our study, all participants were required to read the purpose of our study and were informed that their personal information would be coded to ensure anonymity. Informed consent was retrieved by all participants, and our study were approved by the Human Ethics Office of College of Education, Wenzhou University (Protocol code: HE2020-0120) (Date of approval: 20 January 2020).

Acknowledgments

We thank all subjects for their contributions to this research.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Additional information

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).