Development and Validation of a 20 Item Undergraduate Scale for Psychological Constructs in Five Eastern Ethiopian Public Universities

Abstract Valid and reliable measurement instruments underpin credible educational research, yet psychometrically validated tools jointly measuring psychological constructs remain scarce for Ethiopian graduating undergraduates. This study developed and validated a 20-item structured questionnaire measuring these two mediating constructs and tested their structural relationship. A quantitative, correlational design was employed with 200 graduating undergraduates purposively drawn from five Ethiopian universities and colleges via stratified random sampling. Items were generated from theory and literature, then refined through expert-panel content validity indexing (I-CVI, S-CVI) before pilot reliability testing. Data were collected using a self-administered, five-point Likert questionnaire and analyzed sequentially in SPSS and AMOS through reliability testing, exploratory factor analysis (Principal Axis Factoring, Promax rotation), confirmatory factor analysis, Pearson correlation, and structural equation modeling. Results revealed a clean two-factor structure, communalities and loadings exceeding recommended thresholds, excellent composite reliability (.955–.957), strong convergent and discriminant validity, and excellent model fit (CFI = TLI=1.00, RMSEA=.000). Motivation to Transfer and Academic Self-Efficacy correlated strongly (r = .758–.80) across three estimation methods, rejecting all three null hypotheses. The validated instrument offers Ethiopian higher education a statistically defensible tool, supporting future structural modeling of institutional determinants and academic outcomes.