Measuring neoliberal individualism, instrumentality, and competition: Development and validation of the Neoliberal Ideological Beliefs Questionnaire (NLBQ)

Abstract This article presents the development and validation of the Neoliberal Ideological Beliefs Questionnaire (NLBQ), a novel measure designed to analyze neoliberal ideological beliefs specifically within the context of work and employment. The NLBQ is theoretically grounded in the distinction of three fundamental political neoliberal logics: individualism, instrumentality, and competition. To evaluate its psychometric properties, factorial, and construct validity, the NLBQ was administered to four convenience samples of altogether N = 4075 participants from Austria and Germany (Study 1: n = 664; Study 2: n = 458; Study 3: n = 559; Study 4: n = 2394). The initial 90‐item pool, developed through extensive group discussions and iterative testing, was reduced to a final 18‐item version through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA and CFA). The four studies confirmed the three‐dimensional structure of the NLBQ and demonstrated its convergent and incremental validity by computing bivariate and partial correlations with established scales measuring related constructs, such as neoliberal beliefs analyzed with an alternative measure (Neoliberal Beliefs Inventory), ideologies of market competition and shareholder interest, economic system justification, political left–right self‐placement, social dominance orientation, dark triad personality, and group‐focused enmity. The final 18‐item version demonstrated satisfactory fit indices across all four samples. Finally, we derived a 9‐item short version, which also showed strong psychometric properties.