Testing the Construct Validity of Intercultural effectiveness

Intercultural effectiveness is a theoretical construct that includes a set of factors that predict effective intercultural communication and adaptation. The construct validity of intercultural effectiveness must be established before it can be used for theory development. This study considers intercultural effectiveness a theoretical construct that has cognitive, affective, and behavioral aspects and tests the factorial structure model in which intercultural effectiveness is a second-order factor indicated by three first-order factors: communication competence, cultural empathy, and communication behavior. The construct validity is tested by examining the factorial validity using confirmatory factor analysis with LISREL VI. The overall fit of the model is satisfactory, indicated by adequate factor loadings and correlations and goodness of fit. The present findings provide some support for the construct validity of intercultural effectiveness. However, more research should be done on intercultural effectiveness in areas such as its discriminant and convergent validity before using the construct for model building and theory development.