Development and validation of employee wellbeing scale - a formative measurement model

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize a suitable measure for the employee wellbeing construct and validate this tool in Indian workplace settings, especially with reference to IT/ITes and BFSI sectors. Design/methodology/approach This study is descriptive and cross-sectional in nature. The literature was first reviewed to identify the underlying probable dimensions of employee wellbeing and its corresponding items. These items were then subjected to elaborate discussions with experts from industry as well as academia. The index, thus, developed was administered to collect primary data from employees working in IT/ITeS and BFSI sectors based in Delhi-NCR. PLS SEM 3 was applied as employee wellbeing was construed as a first-order reflective second-order formative construct. Thereafter, it was subjected to suitable assessments of reliability and convergent validity. Findings The findings reveal that employee wellbeing can be conceptualized as a construct having four dimensions namely, purpose in life (PIL), work-life balance (WLB), job wellness (JW) and physical wellness (PW). It was also revealed that all the dimensions identified in the study capture different facets of the employee wellbeing and collectively define the construct; omission of any items may lead to change in the nature of the construct. This investigation is unique as it frames the index of employee wellbeing with specifications of a formative measurement model. To the best of the authors' knowledge, no published study so far has measured EWB as a formative construct. Originality/value Many earlier studies have incorporated a unidimensional approach to individual wellbeing and lacked a crucial outlook of having multi-dimensional understanding of the employee wellbeing construct in the social and work context. Furthermore, this paper contributes not only to the existing body of knowledge in employee wellbeing, but also brings forth an important aspect of measurement model specification, i.e. formative measurement model by bringing the specific reasons for taking employee wellbeing as a formative concept.