Linguistic bridges and psychometric foundations: the journey of adapting and validating college self-efficacy inventory within Indonesian higher education

Self-efficacy significantly influences students' academic success. Despite numerous cultural adaptations of the College Self-Efficacy Inventory (CSEI) globally, Indonesian research remains limited, underscoring the need for culturally validated tools. This study aimed to adapt and validate the CSEI for Indonesian contexts through stepwise assessment of content validity (expert judgement using CVI), response processes (cognitive interviews), and internal structure (CFA). The adaptation involved forward–backward translation by four bilingual translators, content validation by five experts, cognitive interviews with seven students, and convenience sampling of 349 undergraduates (68.5% female, aged 18–24, mostly science majors from Java). Results showed high conceptual and semantic equivalence, with comparability and similarity indices approaching 1. Content validity achieved exemplary I-CVI and S-CVI scores with perfect ratings for relevance and clarity. Confirmatory factor analysis showed the refined 13-item model had stronger psychometric properties than the original 20-item version (CFI = 0.940, TLI = 0.925, RMSEA = 0.069, SRMR = 0.047) with higher reliability (McDonald's ω = 0.881, Cronbach's α = 0.850). The Indonesian CSEI successfully maintained its three-factor structure encompassing course, roommate, and social self-efficacy dimensions. Whilst valid and reliable, further refinement of course and roommate dimensions is recommended due to lower factor loadings and potential cultural mismatches.