Loneliness in the Workplace: Construct definition and scale development

Abstract

This paper describes the conceptual development and validation of a scale to measure loneliness in the workplace. Despite extensive literature on loneliness and the measurement of the phenomenon, the issue of assessing worker loneliness is not well researched. A 16-item self-report loneliness scale was developed for intended use in the workplace. Two separate studies were conducted to examine the reliability and validity of the scale . For each study participants were recruited by email and completed the scale via a website published on the internet. The first study included 514 employees, while the second study included 363 employees , each representing various occupational groups. Exploratory factor analysis using oblique rotation generated two factors representing emotional deprivation at work and social companionship at work. On a subsequent sample , confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the two-factor structure by demonstrating a significantly better fit than a single-factor structure. The results indicate the scale has good internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Preliminary evidence for convergent and discriminant validity is also provided.