Revising the Competitiveness Index using factor analysis

The Competitiveness Index is a 20-item true-false measure designed to assess the desire to win in interpersonal situations. To develop a more psychometrically sound form of the scale, 213 undergraduates were administered the original form and a modified version containing a 5-point Likert-type scale. An initial principal component analysis using a varimax rotation of the modified version yielded a four-factor solution accounting for 54.5% of the explained variance. Based on a subsequent reliability analysis. six items were dropped from the modified scale. A second analysis produced a two-factor solution accounting for 54.1% of the explained variance. Both factors (Enjoyment of Competition and Contentiousness) formed reliable subscales. The 14-item Revised Competitiveness Index had high internal consistency and was positively correlated with the original Competitiveness Index, the competitiveness subscales of the Work and Family Orientation Questionnaire, the Sports Orientation Questionnaire, and the Nach Naff measure of Need for Achievement.