Developing and Validating a Short Networking Behavior Scale (SNBS) From Wolff and Moser's (2006) Measure. (May 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wolff, Hans-Georg; Spurk, Daniel
• Is Part Of: Journal of career assessment. Volume 28:Number 2(2020:May)
• Page Start: 277
• Page End: 302
• Publication Date: 2020-05
• Subjects: networking -- social capital -- career competencies -- scale development; Vocational guidance -- Periodicals; 331.702
• DOI: 10.1177/1069072719844924
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1069-0727

Abstract

Networking refers to building, maintaining, and using informal contacts to attain work or career resources. Although several measures exist, we are not aware of any short measure that reaches conventional standards and captures the breadth and multiple dimensions of the construct. To enable a brief and at the same time broad assessment of networking behaviors, this study reports the development and validation of a short version (the Short Networking Behavior Scale) of Wolff and Moser's (2006) 44-item networking behavior scale. We examine the measurement properties of the derived 18-item version in two studies using three samples. Confirmatory factor analyses show that a correlated six-factor model with two higher order factors of internal and external networking fits the data well. We provide evidence for construct and criterion-oriented validity, showing that the internal and external networking scales exhibit meaningful correlational patterns with personality, career, and social network variables but only small and mostly nonsignificant correlations with measures of job or task characteristics.