Measurement invariance across gender and ethnicity on the emotional quotient inventory 2.0

Abstract: This study responds to the call for investigations of measurement invariance on tests of emotional intelligence. The aim of this study was to establish the measurement invariance of the Emotional Quotient Inventory 2.0 across gender and ethnic groups in South Africa. The sample consisted of 1144 working adults. Multiple group factor analysis was conducted to test for configural, metric, and scalar invariance. Results suggest that the assessment is largely invariant at configural and metric levels across gender and ethnic groups. At scalar level, full invariance were achieved for five of the fifteen scales across gender and three scales across ethnic groups. Partial scalar models were explored for all other scales. Overall, the evidence seems to suggest that the scales had similar meanings for men and women and also for Black and White respondents, although for a few scales across gender, and more so for ethnicity, it seems that responses might also be influenced by factors other the underlying latent construct