Professional identity scale for information professionals: an instrument development

Introduction. There is no validated and reliable instrument available for information professionals to measure their professional identity development. As the profession goes through a transformation and recalibrates itself to stay relevant, enhance training opportunities and programs to promote a strong professional identity, and better address the needs and expectations of users, having a validated and reliable instrument to assess the professional identity of the professionals in the field will help address this gap. Method. A quantitative approach was used to collect data about LIS professional identity to develop a reliable scale. A non-probability sampling strategy was employed to recruit early career LIS professionals. Analysis. Data were analysed using exploratory factor analysis approach. Results. The proposed instrument has high internal reliability and captures aspects of the LIS professional identity. Results of the exploratory factor analysis indicated that five areas or subscales can assess the LIS professional identity. Conclusions. The results of the study supported that proposed constructs were mostly consistent with LIS professional identity scale factors. Though there is extensive research in professional identity development of LIS professionals, this is a first step to developing a scale to measure LIS professional identity.