Development and Validation of a Questionnaire to Measure Social Competencies for Undergraduate Students

Aim. This study aimed to develop and validate a social competencies scale (SOCS) for undergraduate students and examine the mean differences in SOCS across gender and family income. Methods. This cross-sectional study comprised six stages. Stage I: Items Generation and Selection, the initial SOCS was constructed through literature reviews. Stage II: Expert Reviewing, the items were further reviewed by experts to ensure content validity, clarity, and alignment with theoretical constructs. Stage III: Pilot Study, a pilot study was conducted with 20 undergraduate students. Feedback from this study was used to refine the wording and structure of the items. Stage IV: Construction of SOCS, this survey was administered to students from 15 universities in Thailand using a 5-point Likert scale. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was performed on responses from 955 students to identify the structure of SOCS. Stage V: Scale Validation, the SOCS measurement model was tested for reliability and construct validity using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Stage VI: Comparison of Means Difference, independent t-test and ANOVA were conducted to compare mean differences in SOCS. Results. The final SOCS model included six latent factors: self-responsibility (SRS), social relationships (REL), self-awareness (AWR), teamwork-building (TWB), social networking (NET), and communication (COM). The second-order CFA of SOCS fits the data adequately. Female students scored higher on SRS, REL, TWB, and COM, indicating significant gender differences but there was not significantly impacted by family income. Conclusions. The results of this study demonstrated the basic psychometric properties of a new questionnaire to measure social competencies for undergraduate students that can be applied in similar contexts.