تغییر ناپذیری سنجش در مشاوره پژوهش: بررسی میان فرهنگی در سراسر تایوان و ایالات متحده

Workplace mentoring in the international context is an emerging research area with significant potential for global integration. However, although measurement equivalence is a prerequisite for examining cross-cultural differences, this assumption has yet to be examined in mentoring research. This study contributes to the mentoring literature by assessing the measurement equivalence of the Mentoring Functions Questionnaire (MFQ-9) across two diverse cultural settings, the U.S. and Taiwan. Results of a series of multi-group confirmatory factor analyses supported full configural invariance, full metric invariance, and partial scalar invariance across the two groups. These findings suggest MFQ-9 may provide acceptable comparisons and meaningful interpretations across cultures. Implications for future international mentoring research and managerial practice are discussed.

This study investigated measurement invariance across two countries that are culturally different from each other (U.S. and Taiwan). Results suggested that the measurement structure of MFQ-9 was invariant across the two contexts. Scales that are developed through deductive approaches rather than inductive approaches may be more likely to demonstrate ME/I across cultures because the items tend to be more general and less culture specific (Riordan & Vandenberg, 1994). MFQ-9 was developed through a deductive approach (Scandura & Ragins, 1993) and our findings provide preliminary support that individuals from different cultural backgrounds may share similar conceptualizations of mentoring functions. Therefore, current results suggest that MFQ-9 may be psychometrically sound across different cultural contexts. Further, full metric and partial scalar invariance suggest MFQ-9 may be used in cross-cultural comparisons. However, future research should also integrate emic manifestations of mentoring relationships. For example, in paternalistic societies there may be additional facets in mentoring relationships that have not yet been conceptualized in the Western context. In order to fully capture protégé experiences in international mentoring relationships, we need to not only ensure measurement invariance of etic dimensions but also integrate emic interpretations to advance mentoring theory.