Psychometric analysis of the Tourism Wellbeing Scale (TWS): a multidisciplinary approach

Abstract This paper analyses the Tourism Wellbeing Scale, a new measure in the tourism sector built from Positive Psychology variables: wellbeing, creativity, optimism, and spirituality. It empathizes the importance of multidisciplinary work and thus it focuses on a psychological approach to understand wellbeing in tourism. The empirical research used Exploratory Factor Analysis (n=429) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (n=428). Reliability through Cronbach’ Alpha was .874 and evidence of convergent validity was found with the Creative personality scale-short form, Global wellbeing scale, optimism scale, and spirituality scale. A final 8-item structure, with a one-factor solution and confirmatory analysis with: a) Normed Chi-squared (χ2/df) =1.076; b) Root Mean Square Residual (RMR) =.041; c) Goodness of Fit (GFI) =.992; d) Adjusted Goodness of Fit (AGFI) =.977; e) Comparative Fit Index (CFI) =.999; and f) the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) =.013 was obtained. Overall, this instrument has an adequate goodness-of-fit and acceptable psychometric quality to be used in the field. This study is an innovation in bringing a new instrument to the field based on psychological principles with the potential to help stakeholders in the development of new marketing products where wellbeing can be a major turn-point for the tourism industry.