A validation study of the Miville-Guzman Universality-Diversity Scale in South Africa

Background: In order for organisations to best implement diversity management programmes that will create an environment in which diversity is appreciated and utilised optimally to achieve organisational outcomes, they need to first identify the attitudes and orientations that individuals in the organisation have towards diversity. Universal-diverse orientation (UDO) is a largely under-researched topic in South Africa, and currently no instrument measuring UDO has been validated in a South African context.Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine the psychometric properties of the Miville-Guzman Universality-Diversity Scale (M-GUDS) in South Africa. Setting: The study was conducted among the general working population in the Gauteng Province in South Africa. Methods: A quantitative cross-sectional research design was followed. A heterogeneous sample of 255 South African employees from the general working population in Gauteng was selected to complete a voluntary web-based questionnaire.Results: The results confirm that the M-GUDS is reliable; the factorial validity, and convergent and divergent validity of the M-GUDS are also confirmed. The predictive validity of the instrument is partly confirmed. Conclusion: This study contributes to the limited research that has been done on UDO in South Africa by providing a valid instrument that can give additional insight into organisations on the orientations and attitudes of employees toward diversity. This provides organisations with a platform to assess their diversity orientation that can be used to inform diversity management programmes.Contribution: This study contributes to the limited research that has been done on UDO in South Africa, as well as addresses the gap of a lacking instrument to measure UDO in South Africa by validating the M-GUDS.