1. Introduction
There is a growing body of research that investigates the reasons and motivations behind employee participation in corporate social responsibility (CSR) as well as employees’ responses to it. Workers are encouraged to exhibit more of their complete personalities at work when they are in what is known as a psychologically safe frame of mind. This has a positive association with the perception of organizational support, which in turn has a positive correlation with corporate social responsibility. The value of work purpose is established by the meaning that it holds in terms of sustainability measured against a person’s sustainability standards or ideals. It is an indication that workers want the opportunity to implement their commitment to sustainable practices in their jobs. The concept of psychological empowerment has already been applied in micro-CSR research [
1,
2,
3].
There is a link between psychological empowerment and ill health, as indicated by both theoretical and empirical evidence [
4]. By enhancing psychological safety and psychological empowerment [
5,
6,
7], it is possible to prevent resource depletion cycles from occurring. As a result, the emotional exhaustion experienced by workers will be alleviated. In the negative relationship between psychological empowerment and emotional exhaustion, the concept of psychological safety plays a significant role. According to Sjöblom, K. et al. [
5], psychological empowerment enables employees to experience better connections with other people or activities and realize that other areas of their life and the situation they are working in are compatible [
5]. The organizational embeddedness of an employee is considerably improved via psychological empowerment. In terms of a fit, empowered workers find greater significance in their job; they have a strong sense that their personal values and beliefs align with those of their employers. Employees that are psychologically empowered also feel autonomous. Their initiative demonstrates this by initiating and continuing work procedures [
8] that motivate people to remain. Moreover, empowered individuals believe that their efforts will generate positive results because of an increased sense of competence.
Psychological empowerment is the expression of internal motivation in terms of the four cognitive components of meaning, competence, self-determination, and impact [
9]. How effectively an employee’s values and beliefs align with the requirements of their profession is reflected in the meaning [
9]. Self-efficacy, a concept derived from social cognitive theory, pertains to people’s beliefs in their capacity to exercise control over events that affect their lives [
10]. Self-determination refers to a person’s confidence in their ability to start and control their work activities [
11]. In conclusion, the four cognitive elements demonstrate an active orientation and a sense of control towards work. According to the concept of psychological empowerment, empowered workers have a more positive attitude regarding their work. This demonstrates an approach in which workers desire and demonstrate confidence in customizing their job’s role and surroundings [
9]. Consequently, empowerment and intrinsic motivation can lead to improved forms of job performance.
Psychological empowerment is linked to bad health, according to theory and research. Assessing psychological empowerment has been applied in the healthcare field. A correlation between psychological empowerment and health outcomes was found in a study of nurses from the United States [
12] and Saudi Arabia [
13]. The influence that research on psychological empowerment has on the performance of workers in any industry, as well as on their emotional and physical health, is one of the reasons why this topic of study is so important. Even though there is a valid, reliable, and tried-and-true measurement in many nations and a few languages [
4,
7,
12,
13,
14,
15,
16], the validity of the psychological empowerment scale (PsyES) in the context of the Arab social structure has not been examined. Mubarak and his colleagues devised an Arabic scale for Saudi women. However, it is intended for one sex and contains twenty-six items, making it difficult to answer [
17]. In light of this, the purpose of this research is to investigate the validity and reliability of a measure of PsyES using a sample population that varies in terms of age, socioeconomic position, educational attainment, work status, and geographical location. The Rasch model and confirmatory factor analysis utilizing the Winstep and Amos programs, respectively, are two examples of the more complex methods of analysis that may be utilized to accomplish this goal.
4. Discussion
The idea of sustainable workplace well-being, as well as the degree to which it differs from other types of well-being in organizational contexts, has received scant attention in the research that has been conducted up to this point. As such, there is a need for additional study in this field because there is no scale that is universally acknowledged for measuring the sustainable well-being of workplaces. This research intended to validate the construct validity of the Arabic version of the PsyES by using Rasch analysis. To elaborate, the PsyES is a test that measures psychological distress. The results of this study showed that the scale, which consisted of 12 different items, contained many dimensions. Furthermore, the findings lend credibility to the utilization of a multidimensional scale. Thus, the conclusions made from past studies about the scale factors are given more weight [
22,
23,
24,
25,
26,
27,
28,
29,
30]. According to the findings, each of the four subscales can potentially be defined by a scale that only has one dimension. In addition to this, it was discovered that the indicators for the subscales possessed an extremely high level of internal consistency. These findings add dimensionally supported evidence at the subscale level and are fairly compatible with research that concluded in the four-factor scale [
23,
27,
31,
32,
33,
34,
35]. This study is the first to support this, and it is essential to note that these findings are consistent with previous research. Before researchers could construct a mean score to indicate a participant’s level of psychological empowerment on that latent variable, they needed dimensionality support on the subscale level. This base is a crucial foundation that was required (the factor).
This research also provides some preliminary evidence for using the average score of the four items for each of the four subscales. It is important to note that the 12-item PsyES does not support the unidimensionality of the items at the item level. According to Hoffman, who claimed that the original version with its four subscales was one-dimensional and internally consistent, this investigation validated one-dimensionality for each of the four subscales. The research results are consistent with the idea that the PsyES is a multidimensional construct, as described in various studies, and they support the multidimensionality of the scale [
36,
37]. In conclusion, this may suggest that the findings are consistent with utilizing the mean score at the subscale levels and that the sum of the scores on each subscale corresponds to the variable underlying that subscale. Additionally, suppose a researcher wants to gather information on one of the scale’s four characteristics without using any other subscales. In this case, these findings support using any of the scale’s subscales as an independent unit. While these results are based on the data from the Arabic version, it is anticipated that we will obtain comparable results for the other samples, particularly given that the factorial analysis results’ psychometric properties in the Arabic version were consistent with those in the original version [
9,
31].
According to the findings of this study’s confirmatory validity analysis, the final model of structural PsyES was found to be appropriate and valid in all four subscales investigated. In the current study, we found that satisfactory results could be obtained via the model’s fitness indices. A model is considered appropriate when its RMSEA is within acceptable limits, its GFI and AGFI are very close to 1, its SRMR is lower than 0.09, and its CFI is more than 0.9 [
21]. Our analysis, which was based on the pattern fitness index, arrived at the conclusion that the aforementioned criteria were satisfied by our data. In accordance with the conclusions of this study, many other researchers have examined the CFA of the patterns that they have developed [
38,
39,
40].
When analyzing the findings of this study, there is a restriction that must be taken into consideration. This limitation concerns the fact that the sample size was small. The sample was gathered from a single region of the country; hence, additional research employing samples gathered from other regions of the country would be required to verify the conclusions of this study.
5. Conclusions
In accordance with the findings achieved via AMOS, the final multidimensional scale model successfully approximates the data in this study. The Rasch model was used to further validate the multidimensionality of PsyES. The separation indices between people and items were more than 1.5, and the item characteristic curve supported the validity of the amended rating scale. The MnSq and Zstd values indicated that the data were compatible with the Rasch model based on the suggested indicators and did not stray from the two established limitations. This is the first study of its type to demonstrate the efficacy of the Arabic version of PsyES as a screening tool for psychological empowerment. Its four elements are a legitimate and trustworthy measuring technique that may be applied in several quantifiable sustainability-related domains. Data from various nations that utilize the PsyES may be used in future studies for comparisons. This will also enable the comparison of item ratings across nations. In conclusion, this study is the first to employ Rasch analysis to provide statistical justification for the usage of means at the level of PsyES scale subscales. On a separate note, psychological empowerment was measured with regard to another culture in this article. In addition, motivating and supporting employees to participate in CSR activities has been found to increase organizational engagement and job satisfaction, especially for sustainability-focused personnel. When senior management and HR bureaucrats examine their workplace’s well-being strategy and practice it in conjunction with their sustainability agenda, there will be benefits for all parties involved. Important theoretical and methodological contributions have been made by this study to the existing body of research on the topic of sustainable workplace well-being. The conclusion of this research indicates a shift away from the concept of general workplace well-being and towards the concept of sustainable workplace well-being as a new construct to be hypothesized within the scope of the triple bottom line approach relative to sustainable business strategies.