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What is coefficient alpha? An examination of theory and applications
Abstract
Psychological research involving scale construction has been hindered considerably by a wide-spread lack of understanding of coefficient alpha and reliability theory in general. A discussion of the assumptions and meaning of coefficient alpha is presented. This discussion is followed by a demonstration of the effects of test length and dimensionality on alpha by calculating the statistic for hypothetical tests with varying numbers of items, numbers of orthogonal dimensions, and average item intercorrelations. Recommendations for the proper use of coefficient alpha are of-fered. Coefficient alpha (Cronbach, 1951) is certainly one of the most important and pervasive statistics in research involving test construction and use. A review of the Social Sciences Cita-tions Index for the literature from 1966 to 1990 revealed that Cronbach's (1951) article had been cited approximately 60 times per year and in a total of 278 different journals. In addi-tion to the areas of psychology in which one may expect to see alpha used, such as educational, industrial, social, clinical, child, community, and abnormal psychology, this list of jour-nals included representatives from experimental psychology, so-ciology, statistics, medicine, counseling, nursing, economics,
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“The reliability of each scale was tested with the Cronbach's Alpha: all the values are over 0.7, which implies that there is an overall adequate internal consistency and that the measures could be considered reliable (Cortina, 1993;Taber, 2017).”
From The self-reinforcing effect of digital and social exclusion: The inequality loop (2022) · cites this paper as Cortina, 1993
In the citing paper
“Internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s alpha) ranged from 0.70 to 0.79, which is within what is generally considered the acceptable range of 0.65–0.80 [47,48]”
From Gender Differences in Coping and Psychological Adaptation during the COVID-19 Pandemic (2023) · cites this paper as [47]
In the citing paper
“We chose these two tools, instead of traditional measures of internal consistency (i.e., Cronbach's Alpha [Cronbach, 1951] or KR-20 for dichotomous data [Kuder and Richardson, 1937]) because unlike traditional estimates which do not assess homogeneity (Cortina, 1993; Clark and Watson, 1995), omega and CFA, simultaneously provide estimates of both.”
From A psychometric analysis of the reading the mind in the eyes test: toward a brief form for research and applied settings (2015) · cites this paper as Cortina, 1993
In the citing paper
“Also, Cronbach's alpha is highly biased by long tests; Cortina (1993) recommended Cronbach's alpha not be used for tests with more than 40 items and the Eyes Test, at 36 items, is close to this limit.”
From A psychometric analysis of the reading the mind in the eyes test: toward a brief form for research and applied settings (2015) · cites this paper as Cortina, 1993
In the citing paper
“Reliability estimates are biased towards number of items, and on scales with small numbers of items the alpha is a poor indicator of measure fit (Cortina 1993).”
From Sleep Problems Across Development: A Pathway to Adolescent Risk Taking Through Working Memory (2015) · cites this paper as Cortina 1993
Citations
Cites
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Cited by
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Dahl, A. J., Milne, G. R., & Peltier, J. W. (2019) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.02.025 · Cited by 110
“Finally, the coefficient alpha for each scale was above .746 (Cortina 1993).”
BackgroundThe Conspiracy Mentality Scale
Stojanov, A., & Halberstadt, J. (2019) · Social Psychology · doi:10.1027/1864-9335/a000381 · Cited by 78
Increased Stress, Declining Mental Health: Emerging Adults’ Experiences in College During COVID-19
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“Cronbach’s a scores are provided to give the internal consistency estimates and their meaning for the items in each factor (Cortina, 1993).”
BackgroundPerceptions of Neighborhood Park Quality: Associations with Physical Activity and Body Mass Index
Bai, H., Stanis, S. A. W., Kaczynski, A. T., & Besenyi, G. M. (2013) · Annals of Behavioral Medicine · doi:10.1007/s12160-012-9448-4 · Cited by 110
“70 typically recommended as acceptable [59].”
Ranzenhofer, L. M., Engel, S. G., Crosby, R. D., Anderson, M., Vannucci, A., Cohen, L. A., Cassidy, O., & Tanofsky‐Kraff, M. (2014) · International Journal of Eating Disorders · doi:10.1002/eat.22333 · Cited by 107
Spirituality as a moderator of the relationship between workplace aggression and employee outcomes
Sprung, J. M., Sliter, M. T., & Jex, S. M. (2012) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2012.06.011 · Cited by 109
“of items in the scale, and caution should be taken when interpreting alpha for a scale with a small number of items (Cortina, 1993).”
BackgroundSA8000 as CSR-Washing? The Role of Stakeholder Pressures
Boiral, O., Saizarbitoria, I. H., & Testa, F. (2015) · Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management · doi:10.1002/csr.1391 · Cited by 109
“The Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient is 0.86, which is considerably above the recommended value of 0.7 for combining variables into a single construct (Cortina, 1993).”
MethodInfluentialÁlvarez-Risco, A., Del-Aguila-Arcentales, S., Rosen, M. A., Ibarra, V. J. G., Maycotte-Felkel, S., & Martínez-Toro, G. M. (2021) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su13063306 · Cited by 134
“7 to consider that a set of items is part of the same construct and ensure reliability [77,78].”
BackgroundThe Role of a Flagship Species in the Formation of Conservation Intentions
Smith, A. M., & Sutton, S. G. (2008) · Human Dimensions of Wildlife · doi:10.1080/10871200701883408 · Cited by 109
“Because of the relatively small number of items in the scale (ie, less than 10; Cortina, 1993 ; Pallant, 2007 ), the unidimensionality and internal consistency reliability of the scales were confirmed using inter-item correlations; inter-item correlations were within the recommended range of .”
BackgroundDorow, M., Beardmore, B., Haider, W., & Arlinghaus, R. (2009) · Fisheries Management and Ecology · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2400.2009.00674.x · Cited by 109
Iverson, R. D., & Deery, S. J. (2001) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-9010.86.5.856 · Cited by 109
Psychometric properties of shortened versions of the automatic thoughts questionnaire
Netemeyer, R. G., Williamson, D. A., Burton, S., Biswas, D., Jindal, S., Landreth, S., Mills, G., & Primeaux, S. (2002) · Educational and Psychological Measurement · doi:10.1177/0013164402062001008 · Cited by 108
“Several psychometricians have made the argument that highly redundant items tend to raise indexes (like coefficient alpha) without substantively adding to internal consistency or content validity (L. A. Clark & Watson, 1995; Cortina, 1993).”
BackgroundA moderated mediation analysis of job demands, presenteeism, and absenteeism
Deery, S. J., Walsh, J. T., & Zatzick, C. D. (2014) · Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology · doi:10.1111/joop.12051 · Cited by 122
Laksmita, O. D., Chung, M., Liao, Y., & Chang, P. (2020) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0229958 · Cited by 108
“70) [50]; hence, results of our study met the recommended criteria.”
ResultDevelopment of the urban green space quality assessment tool (RECITAL)
Knobel, P., Dadvand, P., Alonso, L., Costa, L., Español, M., & Maneja, R. (2020) · Urban forestry & urban greening · doi:10.1016/j.ufug.2020.126895 · Cited by 108
A 3-Item Measure of Digital Health Care Literacy: Development and Validation Study
Nelson, L. A., Pennings, J. S., Sommer, E. C., Popescu, F., & Barkin, S. L. (2022) · JMIR Formative Research · doi:10.2196/36043 · Cited by 108
“40 were used as the criteria to evaluate the items retained in the full factors and to attempt to create a reduced factor [25-27].”
MethodEdelsbrunner, P. A., Simonsmeier, B. A., & Schneider, M. (2025) · Educational Psychology Review · doi:10.1007/s10648-024-09982-y · Cited by 205
“This formula can also be expressed as: where s ij is the average covariance between all items (Cortina, 1993; McNeish, 2018).”
InfluentialDevelopment and validation of the immunosuppressant therapy adherence instrument (ITAS)
Chisholm, M. A., Lance, C. E., Williamson, G. M., & Mulloy, L. L. (2005) · Patient Education and Counseling · doi:10.1016/j.pec.2004.09.003 · Cited by 108
Why Measurement Matters for Measuring Patient Vision Outcomes
Mallinson, T. (2007) · Optometry and Vision Science · doi:10.1097/opx.0b013e3181339f44 · Cited by 108
“Yet coefficient alpha is sample-dependent, that is, the actual value varies depending on the range of abilities (variance) in the sample tested.(4) In addition, the value of coefficient alpha is also influenced by: test length,(5) test targeting,(6) missing data,(5) and test homogeneity.”
BackgroundMcKay, K. A. (2012) · UC Research Repository (University of Canterbury) · doi:10.26021/8647 · Cited by 108
Ghirardi, L., Pettersson, E., Taylor, M. J., Freitag, C. M., Franke, B., Asherson, P., Larsson, H., & Kuja-Halkola, R. (2019) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s003329171800243x · Cited by 99
“Both subscales had acceptable internal consistency given the small number of items (Cronbach’s α equal to 0.62 and 0.65, respectively) (Cortina, 1993), and good accuracy (Area under the curve equal to 0.88 and 0.81, respectively) in predicting a clinical diagnosis in this sample (online…”
BackgroundResultInfluentialA job demands-resources approach to presenteeism
McGregor, A., Magee, C., Caputi, P., & Iverson, D. C. (2016) · Career Development International · doi:10.1108/cdi-01-2016-0002 · Cited by 125
Schimmenti, A., Jonason, P. K., Passanisi, A., Marca, L. L., Dio, N. D., & Gervasi, A. M. (2017) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-017-9588-6 · Cited by 114
Vakili, M. M., & Jahangiri, N. (2018) · Journal of Medical Education Development · doi:10.29252/edcj.10.28.106 · Cited by 107
Analysis of Golfer Motivations and Constraints by Experience Use History
Petrick, J. F., Backman, S. J., Bixler, R. D., & Norman, W. C. (2001) · Journal of Leisure Research · doi:10.1080/00222216.2001.11949930 · Cited by 107
“60 or higher) than scales with more items, and still be acceptable (Cortina, 1993).”
BackgroundLove & Loans: The Effect of Beauty and Personal Characteristics in Credit MarketsPreprint
Ravina, E. (2008) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.1101647 · Cited by 107
Transforming with levity: humor, leadership, and follower attitudes
Hughes, L. W., & Avey, J. B. (2009) · Leadership & Organization Development Journal · doi:10.1108/01437730910981926 · Cited by 106
Is the trend your friend? An analysis of technology 4.0 investment decisions in agricultural SMEs
Annosi, M. C., Brunetta, F., Monti, A., & Nati, F. (2019) · Computers in Industry · doi:10.1016/j.compind.2019.04.003 · Cited by 109
Mestre, D., Dagonneau, V., & Mercier, C.-S. (2011) · PRESENCE Virtual and Augmented Reality · doi:10.1162/pres_a_00031 · Cited by 106
“…of this questionnaire is ideal (at0 ¼ 0.93; at1 ¼ 0.96; at2 ¼ 0.97; at3 ¼ 0.96) regarding recommendations (a > .70, modest; a > .80, acceptable) from the literature (for more detailed information see Cortina, 1993; Helms, Henze, Sass, & Mifsud, 2006; Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994; Streiner, 2003).”
InfluentialThe Revised Commitment Inventory: Psychometrics and Use With Unmarried Couples
Owen, J. J., RHOADES, G. K., Stanley, S. M., & Markman, H. J. (2010) · Journal of Family Issues · doi:10.1177/0192513x10385788 · Cited by 107
“These results are typical for scales that have a limited number of items (Cortina, 1993; Helms, Henze, Sass, & Mifsud, 2006).”
BackgroundResultFrenzen, H., Hansen, A.-K., Krafft, M., Mantrala, M. K., & Schmidt, S. (2009) · International Journal of Research in Marketing · doi:10.1016/j.ijresmar.2009.09.006 · Cited by 104
Factor Structure of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale in Hong Kong Adolescents
Lee, S. W., Stewart, S. M., Byrne, B. M., Wong, J. P. S., Ho, S. Y., Lee, P. W. H., & Lam, T. (2008) · Journal of Personality Assessment · doi:10.1080/00223890701845385 · Cited by 105
“Use of a single score requires that the data fit a unidimensional structure; an acceptable Cronbach’s alpha value alone does not justify the use of a single score (Cortina, 1993).”
MethodA Novel Imaging Method for Osteochondral Lesions of the Talus—Comparison of SPECT-CT With MRI
Leumann, A. G., Valderrábano, V., Plaaß, C., Rasch, H. F., Studler, U., Hintermann, B., & Pagenstert, G. (2011) · The American Journal of Sports Medicine · doi:10.1177/0363546510392709 · Cited by 105
“Cronbach a is known to show relevant results for 3 to 6 variables, and it can take every value between 0 and 1 and all negative values.(4) Because of the binary code, a large number of Cronbach a values were generated.”
BackgroundVariability of Stuttering: Behavior and Impact
Tichenor, S. E., & Yaruss, J. S. (2021) · American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology · doi:10.1044/2020_ajslp-20-00112 · Cited by 105
“The internal consistency coefficients were acceptable for the first and third factors (Cortina, 1993).”
Wright, J. C., Warren, M. T., & Snow, N. E. (2020) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190655136.001.0001 · Cited by 109
Schlicker, N., Langer, M., Ötting, S. K., Baum, K., König, C. J., & Wallach, D. (2021) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2021.106837 · Cited by 106
The development of a knowledge sharing construct to predict turnover intentions
Jacobs, E. J., & Roodt, G. (2007) · Aslib Journal of Information Management · doi:10.1108/00012530710752034 · Cited by 104
“A Cronbach Alpha of 0.70 or higher is considered acceptable (Cortina, 1993).”
BackgroundInfluentialAdolescents' Contributions to Family Communication Patterns
Saphir, M. N., & Chaffee, S. H. (2002) · Human Communication Research · doi:10.1093/hcr/28.1.86 · Cited by 104
Sarfraz, M., Wang, Q., Abdullah, M. I., & Alvi, A. T. (2018) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su10072429 · Cited by 113
“Cronbach alpha method is used to measure scale reliability [88].”
It’s a Match! The effects of chatbot anthropomorphization and chatbot gender on consumer behavior
Zogaj, A., Mähner, P. M., Yang, L., & Tscheulin, D. K. (2022) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.113412 · Cited by 113
LAWLER, J. J., Chen, S., Wu, P., Bae, J., & Bai, B. (2010) · Journal of International Business Studies · doi:10.1057/jibs.2010.42 · Cited by 105
“Since the alpha coefficient is sensitive to the number of items included in the scale, and to the mean item intercorrelation (Cortina, 1993), we deleted seven items based on this rule.”
MethodExcessive internet use in European adolescents: What determines differences in severity?
Blinka, L., Škařupová, K., Ševčíková, A., Wölfling, K., Müller, K. W., & Dreier, M. (2014) · International Journal of Public Health · doi:10.1007/s00038-014-0635-x · Cited by 104
“This may be due in part to the small number of scale items (Cortina 1993).”
BackgroundSpilman, S. K., Neppl, T. K., Donnellan, M. B., Schofield, T. J., & Conger, R. D. (2012) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0028418 · Cited by 110
“Given they are each based on only two items from different raters, we believe that these numbers reflect adequate reliability (Cortina, 1993), despite being lower than the traditional standard value of .70.”
BackgroundIsometric Midthigh Pull Reliability and Relationship to Deadlift One Repetition Maximum
Witt, J. K. D., English, K. L., Crowell, J. B., Kalogera, K. L., Guilliams, M. E., Nieschwitz, B. E., Hanson, A. M., & Ploutz‐Snyder, L. L. (2016) · The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research · doi:10.1519/jsc.0000000000001605 · Cited by 103
Daddi, T., Saizarbitoria, I. H., Marrucci, L., Rizzi, F., & Testa, F. (2021) · Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management · doi:10.1002/csr.2144 · Cited by 109
Klaver, N. S., van de Klundert, J. J., van den Broek, R. J. G. M., & Askari, M. (2021) · JMIR mhealth and uhealth · doi:10.2196/26845 · Cited by 107
“70, indicating acceptable reliability [57].”
Hagell, P. (2014) · Open Journal of Statistics · doi:10.4236/ojs.2014.46044 · Cited by 106
“This line of reasoning is similar to that underpinning the inappropriateness of coefficient alpha as an index of dimensionality [52], and illustrates the fundamental problem of any data driven approach to rating scale development.”
ResultGómez-Beneyto, M., Nolasco, A., Vasallo, J. M., Pereyra-Zamora, P., Tamayo-Fonseca, N., Munárriz, M., Salazar, J., Tabarés‐Seisdedos, R., & Girón, M. (2013) · BMC Psychiatry · doi:10.1186/1471-244x-13-95 · Cited by 129
“Concerning the use of Cronbach’s Alpha, unidimensionality of each scale is not entirely clear and the value of the Cronbach’s alpha could not be a good indicator of the internal consistency [31] and this why we use model-based reliabilities after the factor analysis.”
MethodJacoby, R. J., Fabricant, L. E., Leonard, R. C., Riemann, B. C., & Abramowitz, J. S. (2013) · Journal of Anxiety Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2013.07.008 · Cited by 102
Higher Education, College Degree Major, and Police Occupational Attitudes
Paoline, E. A., Terrill, W., & Rossler, M. T. (2014) · Journal of Criminal Justice Education · doi:10.1080/10511253.2014.923010 · Cited by 102
“Alpha is sensitive to the number of items within a scale (Cortina, 1993; Schmitt, 1996), so scales with two or three items can have low alphas even if the indices are reliable.”
BackgroundInitial Validation of the Mindful Eating Scale
Hulbert‐Williams, L., Nicholls, W., Joy, J., & Hulbert-Williams, N. (2013) · Mindfulness · doi:10.1007/s12671-013-0227-5 · Cited by 115
“Anastasi 1997) recommend the use of Cronbach’s alpha for this purpose, coefficient alpha is biased by the number of items in the scale and must be interpreted with caution (Cortina 1993).”
Best Split-Half and Maximum Reliability
Nath, S. (2013) · IOSR Journal of Research & Method in Education (IOSRJRME) · doi:10.9790/7388-0310108 · Cited by 102
Grijalva, E. J., Maynes, T. D., Badura, K., & Whiting, S. W. (2019) · Academy of Management Journal · doi:10.5465/amj.2017.0218 · Cited by 109
“Because the coding system was based on a Likerttype continuous scale rather than using a categorical or binning approach, inter-rater reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha (Cortina, 1993).”
MethodReady student one: Exploring the predictors of student learning in virtual reality
Madden, J., Pandita, S., Schuldt, J. P., Kim, B., Won, A. S., & Holmes, N. G. (2020) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0229788 · Cited by 112
“This is expected for multidimensional multiple choice tests [70, 71].”
BackgroundBarrett, A. J., Pack, A., Guo, Y., & Wang, N. (2020) · Interactive Learning Environments · doi:10.1080/10494820.2020.1855209 · Cited by 102
“Despite the relatively lower reliability of one construct, the results were still considered in the analysis as psychological construct measures of 3 items can be considered dependable at measured levels (Cortina, 1993; Kline, 1999).”
ResultDaily autonomy and job performance: Does person-organization fit act as a key resource?
Sørlie, H. O., Hetland, J., Bakker, A. B., Espevik, R., & Olsen, O. K. (2022) · Journal of Vocational Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2022.103691 · Cited by 138
“Following developments in discussions on reliability measures (e.g., Cortina, 1993; Dunn et al., 2014; Morera & Stokes, 2016; Sijtsma, 2009), we used the MBESS package (Kelley, 2007) to calculate coefficient omega including 95% confidence intervals for our measures instead of the more traditional…”
Tiro, J. A., Vernon, S. W., Hyslop, T., & Myers, R. E. (2005) · Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention · doi:10.1158/1055-9965.epi-05-0217 · Cited by 102
Interacting with limited mobility resources: psychological range levels in electric vehicle use
Franke, T., & Krems, J. F. (2013) · Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice · doi:10.1016/j.tra.2012.10.010 · Cited by 186
“Such a result is not uncommon for scales combining only two subscores (Cortina, 1993).”
BackgroundKavussanu, M., Stanger, N., & Boardley, I. D. (2013) · Journal of Sports Sciences · doi:10.1080/02640414.2013.775473 · Cited by 101
“It is known that this coefficient varies from one sample to another and is greatly affected by the number of items in the scale (Cortina, 1993).”
BackgroundCampion, M. C., Ployhart, R. E., & MacKenzie, W. I. (2014) · Human Performance · doi:10.1080/08959285.2014.929693 · Cited by 112
“First, it is a commonly held belief that coefficient alpha is a measure of first-factor saturation (Cortina, 1993).”
BackgroundInfluentialGreen, J. P., Tonidandel, S., & Cortina, J. M. (2016) · Organizational Research Methods · doi:10.1177/1094428116631417 · Cited by 108
“Bollen and Lennox (1991); Cortina (1993); Crocker and Algina (1986) (continued) Table 4.”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialSelf-citationCapability Reputation, Character Reputation, and Exchange Partners’ Reactions to Adverse Events
Park, B., & Rogan, M. (2018) · Academy of Management Journal · doi:10.5465/amj.2016.0445 · Cited by 102
Exploring the predictors and consequences of job insecurity's components
Ito, J. K., & Brotheridge, C. M. (2007) · Journal of Managerial Psychology · doi:10.1108/02683940710721938 · Cited by 101
Diebig, M., Bormann, K. C., & Rowold, J. (2016) · The Leadership Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2016.04.001 · Cited by 101
Linking customer-employee exchange and employee innovative behavior
Li, M., & Hsu, C. H. C. (2016) · International Journal of Hospitality Management · doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2016.04.015 · Cited by 100
Reis, C. T., Laguardia, J., Vasconcelos, A. G. G., & Martins, M. S. (2016) · Cadernos de Saúde Pública · doi:10.1590/0102-311x00115614 · Cited by 100
Anderson, D. J., & Krettenauer, T. (2021) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su13073655 · Cited by 123
Schramm‐Klein, H., & Morschett, D. (2006) · The International Review of Retail Distribution and Consumer Research · doi:10.1080/09593960600572399 · Cited by 100
“A minimum value of 0.4 is accepted for the analysis of three or fewer measurement criteria (Nunnally, 1978; Cortina, 1993).”
BackgroundInfluentialMontero, J., de Oyagüe, R. C., Lynch, C. D., Albaladejo, A., & Castaño, A. (2013) · Journal of Dentistry · doi:10.1016/j.jdent.2013.01.006 · Cited by 103
Do beliefs about aggression predict physical aggression to partners?
Archer, J. E., & Graham‐Kevan, N. (2003) · Aggressive Behavior · doi:10.1002/ab.10029 · Cited by 100
Polity Size and Local Political Trust: A Quasi‐experiment Using Municipal Mergers in D enmark
Hansen, S. W. (2012) · Scandinavian Political Studies · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9477.2012.00296.x · Cited by 99
Stebbings, J., Taylor, I. M., & Spray, C. M. (2011) · Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology · doi:10.1123/jsep.33.2.255 · Cited by 113
“All subscales demonstrated good internal reliability (α >.70), with the exception of the competence and autonomy subscales, which were deemed adequate (α >.60) given the low number of items used to measure these constructs (Cortina, 1993).”
BackgroundMethodO’Donovan, R., van Dun, D. H., & McAuliffe, É. (2020) · BMC Medical Research Methodology · doi:10.1186/s12874-020-01066-z · Cited by 124
Hagell, P., Whalley, D., McKenna, S. P., & Lindvall, O. (2003) · Movement Disorders · doi:10.1002/mds.10438 · Cited by 103
Gestsdóttir, S., Bowers, E. P., von Eye, A., Napolitano, C. M., & Lerner, R. M. (2010) · Journal of Youth and Adolescence · doi:10.1007/s10964-010-9537-2 · Cited by 109
“First, Cronbach’s alpha is a lower bound estimate of reliability based on Monte Carlo estimates ( Cortina 1993 ).”
MethodThayer, Z. M., & Kuzawa, C. W. (2015) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.01.003 · Cited by 108
Cognitive insight: a systematic review.
Van Camp, L. S. C., Sabbe, B. G. C., & Oldenburg, J. F. E. (2017) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2017.04.011 · Cited by 99
“(2015) Schizophrenia & Schizoaffective Functional MRI CI + activity dLPFC & hippocampus Zhang et al. (2015) Bipolar disorder & Schizophrenia Functional MRI CI + activation PCC in schizophrenia Buchy et al.”
InfluentialMeasuring meaning in life following cancer
Jim, H. S., Purnell, J. Q., Richardson, S. A., Golden-Kreutz, D., & Andersen, B. L. (2006) · Quality of Life Research · doi:10.1007/s11136-006-0028-6 · Cited by 100
“The Cortina [64] precision of alpha index was 0.”
InfluentialInterpretaciones del Coeficiente Alpha de Cronbach
Cervantes, V. H. (2005) · Cited by 98
A multidimensional examination of a creativity‐based opportunity recognition model
Hansen, D. J., Lumpkin, G. T., & Hills, G. E. (2011) · International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research · doi:10.1108/13552551111158835 · Cited by 98
“Future research should consider constructing these sub-dimensions, which should lead to higher reliabilities, as adding more items should improve alpha scores (Cortina, 1993).”
BackgroundStylidis, D., Belhassen, Y., & Shani, A. (2015) · Current Issues in Tourism · doi:10.1080/13683500.2015.1051011 · Cited by 119
“60, indicating the reliability of the measures (Cortina, 1993; Lee, 2009; Lin et al., 2007).”
BackgroundInfluentialImpact of student agency on learning performance and learning experience in a flipped classroom
Luo, H., Yang, T., Xue, J., & Zuo, M. (2018) · British Journal of Educational Technology · doi:10.1111/bjet.12604 · Cited by 103
Komperda, R., Pentecost, T. C., & Barbera, J. (2018) · Journal of Chemical Education · doi:10.1021/acs.jchemed.8b00220 · Cited by 100
Kraus, J., Scholz, D. D., & Baumann, M. R. K. (2020) · Human Factors The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society · doi:10.1177/0018720820922653 · Cited by 107
“Whatsoever, an underestimation of reliability is in the nature of Cronbach’s α in short scales (see Cortina, 1993; Lord & Novick, 2008; Starkweather, 2012).”
BackgroundPurcărea, T. V., Ioan-Franc, V., Ionescu, Ș. A., Purcărea, I. M., Purcărea, V. L., Purcărea, I., Mateescu-Soare, M. C., Platon, O.-E., & Orzan, A.-O. (2022) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su14031627 · Cited by 132
“The alpha value can also be manipulated: Cortina [181], for instance, showed that variables containing at least 20 items will have a coefficient greater than 0.”
MethodThe impact of personality on training-related aspects of motivation: Test of a longitudinal model
Rowold, J. (2007) · Human Resource Development Quarterly · doi:10.1002/hrdq.1190 · Cited by 107
“However, reliability estimates depend on the number of items in their respective scale (Cortina, 1993).”
BackgroundShopping orientation and online travel shopping: The role of travel experience
Jensen, J. M. (2011) · International Journal of Tourism Research · doi:10.1002/jtr.835 · Cited by 100
Threats to validity in the use and interpretation of script concordance test scores
Lineberry, M. C., Kreiter, C. D., & Bordage, G. (2013) · Medical Education · doi:10.1111/medu.12283 · Cited by 98
Valenzuela, J., Nieto, A. M., & Saiz, C. (2017) · Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology · doi:10.25115/ejrep.v9i24.1475 · Cited by 103
“24 1) The reliability of the test using the Cronbach alpha (Cortina, 1993; Cronbach, 2004; Streiner, 2003) was analyzed to verify the degree of precision with which the CTMS was measuring different constructs.”
MethodDevelopment and Validation of the Workplace Age Discrimination Scale
Marchiondo, L. A., Gonzales, E. G., & Ran, S. (2015) · Journal of Business and Psychology · doi:10.1007/s10869-015-9425-6 · Cited by 116
Physical activity and global self-worth: The role of physical self-esteem indices and gender
Haugen, T., Säfvenbom, R., & Ommundsen, Y. (2011) · Mental health and physical activity · doi:10.1016/j.mhpa.2011.07.001 · Cited by 112
“All major indexes yielded an acceptable internal consistency (Cortina, 1993).”
BackgroundDifferences in rural landscape perceptions and preferences between farmers and naturalists
Natori, Y., & Chenoweth, R. E. (2008) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2008.02.002 · Cited by 97
How Country Image Affects Tourists’ Destination Evaluations: A Moderated Mediation Approach
Zhang, J., Wu, B., Morrison, A. M., Tseng, C., & Ying-chen, C. (2016) · Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research · doi:10.1177/1096348016640584 · Cited by 105
“This may be caused by the contradiction between subjective and objective measurements, and the small number of scale items (Cortina, 1993).”
BackgroundParenting mediates the impact of maternal depression on child internalizing symptoms
Kuckertz, J. M., Mitchell, C. M., & Wiggins, J. L. (2017) · Depression and Anxiety · doi:10.1002/da.22688 · Cited by 96
“Low internal consistency estimates may be partially explained by the limited length of our scales (Cortina, 1993; Green, Lissitz, & Mulaik, 1977; Miller, 2009), although repeating analyses with the long version of the CBCL yielded very similar results (Supplemental Figs.”
ResultRussell, C. G., Haszard, J. J., Taylor, R. W., Heath, A. M., Taylor, B. J., & Campbell, K. J. (2018) · Appetite · doi:10.1016/j.appet.2018.05.145 · Cited by 96
Buelens, T., Luyckx, K., Kiekens, G., Gandhi, A., Muehlenkamp, J. J., & Claes, L. (2019) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jad.2019.09.009 · Cited by 98
Žlender, V., & Gemin, S. (2019) · Cities · doi:10.1016/j.cities.2019.102579 · Cited by 96
An Aberrant Abundance of Cronbach’s Alpha Values at .70
Hussey, I., Alsalti, T., Bosco, F. A., Elson, M., & Arslan, R. C. (2025) · Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/25152459241287123 · Cited by 197
“by α (i.e., it assumes rather than tests tau equivalence; Cortina, 1993).”
Influential
Metadata
- Authors
- Cortina, J. M.
- Venue
- Journal of Applied Psychology
- Published
- 1993-02
- Volume
- 78
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 98-104
- ISSN
- 0021-9010 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1854
- OpenAlex
- W2117012826
- Cited by
- 8,810
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2026: 523 · 2025: 499 · 2024: 518 · 2023: 606 · 2022: 639 · 2021: 685 · 2020: 589 · 2019: 474 · 2018: 407 · 2017: 411 · 2016: 418 · 2015: 428 · 2014: 437 · 2013: 372 · 2012: 309
- FWCI
- 29.15
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Applied Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty › Reliability and Agreement in Measurement
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Psychological Testing and Assessment
- Keywords
- Cronbach's alpha, internal consistency, reliability theory, scale development, test length, dimensionality
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