Validation of Individualism-Collectivism Scale in Turkish Context

Since individualism and collectivism (IND-COL) construct is the most studied concept in cross cultural studies and can take individual-level issues into account, it constitutes an important part of Turkish cross-cultural management literature. However, previous studies indicate that the construct is problematic from both conceptual and methodological aspects. Therefore, this study aims to validate the new INDCOL scale which is designated to solve these problems. We conducted two studies in order to validate Oyserman's (2005) scale inspired from Oyserman, Coon, and Kemmelmeier's (2002) meta-analysis. The first study which was composed of 440 participants tested the factor structure of INDCOL (IND: success, uniqueness, freedom. COL: family, with-in group destiny, interpersonal relations). The second study which was composed of 107 participants tested the discriminant and convergent validity of the scale. The new IND-COL scale's factor structure was partly confirmed, and the scale showed convergent and discriminant validity. The results indicated that individualism and collectivism were separate constructs and specific sub-fields of IND-COL contributed to better understanding of the construct. However multidimensional structure of the scale had to be improved due to low structural integrity. In the light of these findings, theoretical implications are discussed.