Social motives of university students in seven countries: Measurement development and validation

Abstract

A new scale to measure core social motives was developed based on the BUC(K)ET framework (Belong, Understand, Control, Esteem, and Trust). The scale was completed by 1,516 university students from seven countries: Australia, the United States, New Zealand, the Philippines, Malaysia, China (Macao), and Austria. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis supported the scale's full scalar invariance between Australia and the United States and between Australia and Austria. Partial scalar invariance was established for all countries after omitting the Understand motive, suggesting that the remaining four subscales can be used to compare levels of social motives across diverse cultural groups with caution. We further established the scale's construct validity by examining its correlations in the nomological networks involving several individual difference variables. The profile of social motives was remarkably similar across countries and gender groups, although three Asian groups showed higher motives to belong than non‐Asian groups, and women showed generally stronger core social motives than men, especially the Belong motive. Implications and possible directions of research are discussed.

Exploring the adaptive role of core social motives in perceived societal threats

“…Parts other than Part 1 have been reported in Kashima et al. (2021), including the measure of self‐esteem. Part 1 has been reported in Klackl et al.…”

“…The scale was developed and validated in student samples (N = 1,516) from the current seven countries (with Malaysian samples drawn from both Kuala Lumpur and Sabah). Psychometric properties of SMS are reported in Kashima et al (2021). Briefly, multigroup confirmatory factor analysis supported full scalar invariance of the scale in two betweenculture comparisons (Australia & the United States; Australia & Austria), and partial scalar invariance in comparisons of all countries, omitting the Understand motive.…”

“…We thus explored whether perceived societal threat was associated primarily with the Control motive (Exploratory H1), or more broadly with all core motives, using the newly developed Social Motive Scale (SMS). Based on the evidence that the Belong motive is higher in Eastern cultures than in Western cultures (Kashima et al., 2021), we further explored whether the expected threat–motive association was more robust in the East than in the West, and whether this association was more robustly moderated by self‐esteem in the West than in the East (Exploratory Hypotheses 2a & 2b).…”

“…The survey consisted of four parts: (a) beliefs about the past and the future of society and the self, (b) items of the SMS, (c) individual difference measures, and (d) demographic questions. Parts other than Part 1 have been reported in Kashima et al (2021), including the measure of self-esteem. Part 1 has been reported in Klackl et al (unpublished data 2000).…”

“…Core social motives.. The scale of core social motives (the SMS; Kashima et al, 2021), based on the BUCET framework (Belong: "I often have a strong need to be around people," Understand: "I want to feel that I share the same outlook on the world with other people," Control: "I want to feel that all important matters are currently under control," Esteem: "I want to feel I am satisfying other's expectation on me", and Trust: "I need to feel that other people are basically trustworthy"), involved 20 items. Items were scored on a 7-point scale of 1 (disagree completely), 2 (disagree), 3 (disagree slightly), 4 (neutral-neither agree nor disagree), 5 (agree slightly), 6 (agree), and 7 (agree completely).…”