Proposal of a Validation Framework for a New Measurement Model and its Application to the Export Performance Construct

Ano: 2009 | Volume: 6 | Número: 4

Autores: Jorge Carneiro, Angela da Rocha, Jorge Ferreira da Silva

Palavras-chave: construct measurement, validity, export performance, structural equation modeling

Resumo Inglês:

This paper presents a comprehensive and integrated set of validation procedures to assess the satisfactoriness of
measurement models of multifaceted constructs. The validation framework is then applied to a new measurement
model of the economic domain of export performance, a construct for which agreement has not yet been reached
in the literature concerning the appropriate representation of its complex nature. A sample of 414 large Brazilian
exporters of manufactured products was collected, and five competing measurement models of the construct
were proposed and comparatively assessed. Insights into the nature and structure of the construct are drawn. In
the best fitting of the five tested models, export (venture) performance is represented as a two-dimensional
construct – past export revenues and their growth, and past export profitability, with four and two operational
indicators, respectively. The set of final indicators provides a reasonable coverage of several conceptual aspects
of the phenomenon, namely absolute and relative measures as well as static and dynamic orientations. There is a
thorough discussion of validation steps. The validation framework advanced here is generic and comprehensive
enough to be employed for modeling other multifaceted constructs in the social sciences.