Abstract
Inglehart applies a four item ranking scale to measure post-materialism which is used for cross-cultural and cross-temporal comparative purposes. The aim of this research is to test measurement invariance of the scale to establish to what extent the scale produces comparable results in time and between countries. We use Eurobarometer data to test longitudinal comparability for ten countries (France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, West-Germany, Luxembourg, Denmark, Ireland, Great Britain and North Ireland) over a period of 20 years (1976–1997). With the exception of Denmark the within-country longitudinal comparisons indicate that measurement invariance is a tenable assumption. However, the findings of the cross-cultural analyses indicate that the meaning assigned to the four items differs slightly between countries, indicating a lack of comparability of the average level of post-materialism between countries. Findings also suggest that a lack of unidimensionality of the scale might cause this incomparability.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Inglehart has formulated eight additional items for an extended post-materialism scale; we chose to examine the short scale because this version has been implemented more often, providing us an opportunity to research the comparability between more countries and over a longer time period.
The data, codebook and appendix are downloadable; from: http://www.mzes.uni-mannheim.de/projekte/eurotrend/Homepage.html.
For more information about the weighting variables, see The Mannheim Eurobarometer Trend file 1970–1999 codebook.
CFA for continuous data is part of the framework of SEM.
A not-positive definite matrix has one or more negative eigenvalues.
The inverse of the matrix is calculated by dividing the adjoint matrix by the determinant. For a singular matrix this would imply dividing the adjoint matrix by zero, which is undefined.
Maximum likelihood estimation uses the natural logarithm to estimate model parameters. The natural logarithm is not defined for negative values, at least not in real numbers.
An elaborate syntax of EQX (Bentler 1995) for MGCFA for ranking data is available upon request from the first author.
Cross sectional tests including Denmark yield similar results. These results are available upon request from the first author.
References
Bentler, P. M. (1995). EQS structural equations program manual. Encino, CA: Multivariate Software.
Braithwaite, V., Makkai, T., & Pittlekow, Y. (1996). Inglehart’s materialism-postmaterialism concept: Clarifying the dimensionality debate through rokeach’s model of social values. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 26(17), 1536–1555.
Chan, W., & Bentler, P. M. (1993). The covariance structure analysis of ipsative data. Sociological Methods & Research, 22(2), 214–247.
Cheung, M. W. L. (2004). A direct estimation method on analyzing ipsative data with Chan and Bentler’s (1993) method. Structural Equation Modeling, 11(2), 217–243.
Cheung, M. W. L., & Chan, W. (2002). Reducing uniform response bias with ipsative measurement in multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis. Structural Equation Modeling, 9(1), 55–77.
Cheung, G. W., & Rensvold, R. B. (1999). Testing factorial invariance across groups: A reconceptualization and proposed new method. Journal of Management, 25(2), 1–27.
Cheung, G. W., & Rensvold, R. B. (2002). Evaluating goodness-of-fit indexes for testing measurement invariance. Structural Equation Modeling, 92(2), 233–255.
Davidov, E., Schmidt, P., & Schwartz, S. H. (2008). Bringing values back in: The adequacy of the European social survey to measure values in 20 countries. Public Opinion Quarterly, 72(3), 420–445.
Davis, D. W., & Davenport, C. (1999). Assessing the validity of post-materialism index. American Political Science Review, 93(3), 649–664.
Duch, R. M., & Taylor, M. A. (1993). Post-materialism and economic condition. American Journal for Political Science, 37(3), 747–779.
Hu, L., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6(1), 1–55.
Hui, C. H., & Triandis, H. C. (1985). Measurement in cross-cultural psychology: A review and comparison of strategies. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 16(2), 131–152.
Inglehart, R. (1971). The silent revolution in Europe: Intergenerational change in post-industrial societies. The American Political Science Review, 65(4), 991–1017.
Inglehart, R. (1977). The silent revolution: Changing values and political styles among western publics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Inglehart, R. (1981). Post-materialism in an environment of insecurity. American Political Science Review, 75(4), 880–900.
Inglehart, R. (1985). Aggregate stability and individual level flux in mass belief systems: The level of analysis paradox. American Political Science Review, 79(1), 97–116.
Inglehart, R. (1997). Modernization and postmodernization: Cultural, economic and political change in 43 societies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Inglehart, R., & Abramson, P. R. (1994). Economic security and value change. The American Political Science Review, 88(2), 336–354.
Jackson, D. J., & Alwin, D. F. (1980). The factor analysis of ipsative measures. Sociological Methods & Research, 9(2), 218–238.
Jöreskog, K. G. (1978). Structural analysis of covariance and correlation matrices. Psychometrika, 42(4), 443–477.
Kankaras, M., & Moors, G. B. D. (2009). Measurement equivalence in solidarity attitudes in Europe: Insights from a multiple-group latent-class factor approach. International Sociology, 24(4), 557–579.
Kruskal, W. (1988). Miracles and statistics: The casual assumption of independence. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 83(404), 929–940.
Magidson, J., & Vermunt, J. K. (2006). Use of latent class regression models with a random intercept to remove overall response level effects in ratings data. In A. Rizzi & M. Vichi (Eds.), Proceedings in computational statistics (pp. 351–360). Heidelberg: Springer.
Maslow, A. H. (1970). Motivation and personality. New York: Harper and Row.
Millsap, R. E. (2011). Statistical approaches to measurement invariance. New York: Taylor & Francis Group.
Moors, G. B. D. (2003). The two faces of (post) materialism: A decomposition approach. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 15(4), 396–412.
Moors, G. B. D. (2010). Ranking the ratings. A latent-class regression model to control for overall agreement in opinion research. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 22(1), 93–119.
Steenkamp, J. B. E. M., & Baumgartner, H. (1998). Assessing measurement invariance in cross-national consumer research. Journal of Consumer Research, 25(1), 78–107.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Appendix
Appendix
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ippel, L., Gelissen, J.P.T.M. & Moors, G.B.D. Investigating Longitudinal and Cross Cultural Measurement Invariance of Inglehart’s Short Post-materialism Scale. Soc Indic Res 115, 919–932 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-013-0241-y
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-013-0241-y