Validation of intercultural competence scale in the Ethiopian context: Exploring the factor structure and psychometric properties among university students

BACKGROUND:Although intercultural competence is a crucial factor for university students' academic achievement and inter-ethnic conflict resolution, psychometrically sound intercultural competence scale is not available in the Ethiopian context. The aim of the present study was to translate the original English version of intercultural competence into Amharic language and validate the scale in the Ethiopian context.MATERIALS AND METHODS:In the processes of retaining culturally equivalent translated measure symmetrical approach was used. Data were collected from 476 (Male = 244 and Female = 232) arbitrarily selected university students with an age mean of 22.35 enrolled in undergraduate degree programs at Ambo University. The total sample was randomly split into two equal-sized group to execute exploratory factor analysis (EFA, N = 238) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA, N = 238).RESULT:The result of the study showed that both EFA and CFA supported a significantly correlated four-factor model of intercultural competence (Attitude, Awareness, Knowledge, and Skills). Moreover, the Amharic version of the intercultural competence scale showed good psychometric properties in terms of content validity, construct validity, internal consistency, and good fit indices to the data.CONCLUSION:This generally justifies the use of the Amharic version intercultural competence scale in the Ethiopian context. To satisfy the needs of the labor market, universities in Ethiopia should promote intercultural dialogues that improve the intercultural competence of university students.