The DOI matches its Crossref record; 1 of the 1 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The “Belbin” team role inventory: reinterpreting reliability estimates
Abstract
Previous research into the reliability of the “Belbin” team role self‐perception inventory has concluded that internal consistency reliability is poor, raising concerns about the validity of the inventory as a selection and development tool. This paper argues that, in overcoming the problem of unequal scale lengths between respondents, researchers have tampered with the true error variance contained within item response sets, leading to a misapplication of Cronbach’s alpha in this case. Using weighted average inter‐item correlation coefficients in a formula unrelated to scale length, alternative estimates of the internal consistency reliability of the TRSPI’s scales are derived. For a large data set (n=5,003), results show that the internal consistency of item responses is better than previous research suggests and tends towards the boundary at which internal consistency is considered acceptable in social and psychological research.
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Cronbach alpha estimates increase as scale length increases, with the negative effect of low item numbers especially salient below seven.
“Research has indicated that Cronbach alpha estimates increase as scale length increases (Voss, Stem, & Fotopoulos, 2000), with the negative effect of low item numbers especially salient below seven (Swailes & McIntyre-Bhatty, 2002).”
From Psychological Processes Underlying the Impact of Gender-Related Discrimination on Psychological Distress in Transgender and Gender Nonconforming People. (2019) · cites this paper as Swailes & McIntyre-Bhatty, 2002
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Cites
Limitations of Coefficient Alpha as an Index of Test Unidimensionality1
Green, S. B., Lissitz, R. W., & Mulaik, S. A. (1977) · Educational and Psychological Measurement · doi:10.1177/001316447703700403 · Cited by 522
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Research works printed but not linked: 21
- Belbin, R.M. (1993a), Team Roles at Work, Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford.
- Belbin, R.M. (1993b), “A reply to the Belbin team‐role self‐perception inventory by Furnham, Steele and Pendleton”, Journal of Occupational and Organisational Psychology, Vol. 66, pp. 259‐60. · DOI
- Broucek, W.G. and Randall, G.A. (1996), “An assessment of the construct validity of the Belbin self‐perception inventory and observer’s assessment from the perspective of the five‐factor model”, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 69, pp. 389‐405. · DOI
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- DeVellis, R.F. (1991), Scale Development: Theory and Applications, Sage Publications, Newbury Park, CA.
- Fisher, S.G., Hunter, T.A. and Macrosson, W.D.K. (2000), “The distribution of Belbin team roles among managers”, Personnel Review, Vol. 29 No. 2. · DOI
- Fisher, S.G., Macrosson, W. and Sharp, G. (1996), “Further evidence concerning the Belbin team role self‐perception inventory”, Personnel Review, Vol. 25 No. 2, pp. 61‐7. · DOI
- Furnham, A., Steele, H. and Pendleton, D. (1993a), “A psychometric assessment of the Belbin team role self‐perception inventory”, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 66, pp. 245‐7. · DOI
- Furnham, A., Steele, H. and Pendleton, D. (1993b), “A response to Dr Belbin’s reply”, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 66, p. 261. · DOI
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- Senior, B. (1997), “Team roles and team performance: is there ‘really’ a link?”, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 70, pp. 241‐58. · DOI
- Senior, B. (1998), “An empirically‐based assessment of Belbin’s team roles”, Human Resource Management Journal, Vol. 8 No. 3, pp. 54‐60. · DOI
- Senior, B. and Swailes, S. (1998), “A comparison of the Belbin self perception inventory and observer’s assessment sheet as measures of an individual’s team roles”, International Journal of Selection and Assessment, Vol. 6 No. 1, pp. 1‐8. · DOI
- Thorndike, R.L. and Hagen, E.P. (1977), Measurement and Evaluation in Psychology and Education, 4th ed., John Wiley, New York, NY.
- Voss, K.E., Stem, D.E. and Fotopoulos, S. (2000), “A comment on the relationship between coefficient alpha and scale characteristics”, Marketing Letters, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 177‐91. · DOI · Paper page
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Cited by
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Lloyd, J., Chalklin, V., & Bond, F. W. (2019) · Journal of Counseling Psychology · doi:10.1037/cou0000371 · Cited by 30
Metadata
- Authors
- Swailes, S., & McIntyre‐Bhatty, T.
- Affiliations
- University of Northampton (GB)
- Venue
- Journal of Managerial Psychology
- Publisher
- Emerald
- Published
- 2002-09-01
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 529-536
- ISSN
- 0268-3946 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2017924221
- Cited by
- 66
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 1.65
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Managerial Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Team Dynamics and Performance
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty › Reliability and Agreement in Measurement
- Keywords
- internal consistency, Cronbach's alpha, scale length, team roles, personnel selection, employee development, error variance
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