Measuring the Spiritual and Behavioral Dimensions of Religiosity in a Muslim Sample (original) (raw)

Religiosity among Muslims: A Scale Development and Validation Study

Makara Human Behavior Studies in Asia

While religiosity as a field of inquiry has been gaining research interest in recent years, a central issue about its conceptualisation, measurement, and relationships with work outcomes remains unresolved. The aims of this paper are: (1) to introduce a new scale designed to measure religiosity among Muslims, based on an Islamic perspective that centres on the bodily action or human activity (Islam), the mind or understanding of God (iman), and the spirit or actualisation of virtue and goodness (ihsan); and (2) to demonstrate how religiosity relates to various work outcomes. We followed a rigorous multi-steps scale development procedure using four empirical studies involving 703 participants. The final scale yielded one factor with 10 underlying items. Our results showed that religiosity was positively correlated with job satisfaction, positive work behaviour, workplace integrity, and organisational commitment, but negatively correlated with antagonistic work behaviour. This new scale also showed incremental validity over an existing Muslim attitude scale in predicting organisational commitment and integrity. Overall, this new scale demonstrates good psychometric properties and is a promising tool for the measurement of religiosity among Muslims in organisational settings. Religiusitas pada Muslim: Pengembangan Skala dan Validasi Studi Abstrak Meski belakangan ini religiusitas telah mendapatkan perhatian riset-riset, masalah fundamental tentang konseptualisasi, pengukuran, dan hubungan dengan kinerja individu dalam organisasi masih belum terpecahkan. Tujuan dari artikel ini adalah: (1) memperkenalkan skala baru yang disusun untuk mengukur religiusitas pada Muslim di mana ini didasari oleh perspektif Islam yang berpusat pada perilaku atau aktivitas manusia (Islam), benak atau pemahaman akan Tuhan (iman), dan semangat aktualisasi nilai-nilai dan kebaikan (ihsan); dan (2) menunjukkan bagaimana religiusitas bisa berhubungan dengan berbagai kinerja kerja individu. Kami melakukan pengembangan skala lewat beberapa tahapan ketat menggunakan empat studi empiris dengan 703 partisipan. Skala akhir terdiri atas satu faktor dengan 10 aitem. Hasil juga menunjukkan bahwa religiusitas berkorelasi positif dengan kepuasan kerja, perilaku kerja positif, integritas kerja, dan komitmen organisasi, serta berkorelasi negatif dengan perilaku kerja antagonistik. Secara umum, skala baru ini menunjukkan properti psikometrik yang baik dan bisa menjadi instrumen menjanjikan untuk mengukur religiusitas Muslim di lingkungan organisasi.

The Five Dimensions of Muslim Religiosity. Results of an Empirical Study

2014

In this paper a new instrument measuring Muslim religiosity is presented. Drawing on Glock’s multidimensional concept of religiosity, a quantitative paper-and-pencil study among 228 Muslims living in German cities was carried out. While previous studies have often simply translated indicators measuring Christian religiosity into Islamic terminology, this study applies Glock’s model taking into account the specific characteristics of Islamic piety. In particular, the function of his fifth dimension of secular consequences was modified: Contrary to other denominations, in Islam this dimension is regarded to be as unique and independent as the other four. Empirical findings confirm this assumption. Applying principal component analysis with oblimin rotation yields a five-dimensional structure of Muslim religiosity: 1. Basic religiosity, 2. Central duties, 3. Religious experience, 4. Religious knowledge, and 5. Orthopraxis. Further statistical analysis indicates that the scales are reli...

Measuring Religiosity using the four components of Islam

This study was motivated by the inability to compare the measurements of religiosity of Muslim consumers. The scales in these measurements lacked uniformity and as such their outcomes couldn't be usefully compared. An analysis of these scales revealed that they were all derived from the work of early Muslim scholars who lived in the period 699 to 855 A.D. The study aimed to test the classification introduced by those scholars using factor analysis to test the ability of their work to withstand modern scientific scrutiny with the objective of using that classification to create a more consistent scale to measure religiosity. A convenient sample consisting of 511 male and female Arab, Turkish, and Indonesian students were asked to answer a religiosity scale composed of 21 items. Factor analysis was used to group these items into fewer factors. The outcome of the analysis showed that the 21 items were grouped into four factors and that these factors roughly fit the four-category classification of Islamic (fiqh), and had an even better fit with the three-category classification. Other important findings were observed in relation to the differences in the subgroups of the sample. It was therefore recommended that a new scale be constructed using this category-based classification of Islamic religiosity, and that researchers make use of the massive untapped intellectual contributions of Muslim scholars that have accumulated since the early days of the Islamic civilization in the 7 th century A.D. and which included, in addition to religious subjects, other sciences such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, astronomy, and philosophy (Beg, 2006). Finally, it was recommended that these contributions be subjected to modern scientific scrutiny using the most advanced scientific tools and methodologies available to us today.

ADAPTATION OF A MUSLIM RELIGIOSITY SCALE FOR USE WITH FOUR DIFFERENT FAITH COMMUNITIES IN MALAYSIA

Though many religiosity scales originally developed for use with Judeo-Christian populations have been adapted for use with Muslim populations (Spiika et ai 2003), no known scales developed for Muslims have been adapted for use by non-Muslim adherents. In an attempt to measure religiosity of Malaysian youth across four faith communities (Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and Christians), researchers required the use of an instrument that would he universally applicable and accepted. The Religious Personality subscale of the Muslim Religiosity-Personality Inventory (MRPI) (Krauss et al. 2006) was selected. The current paper set out to report on the process and results of scale adaptation. Psychometric results indicate that the scale is reliable, valid and relevant for use with multiple faith groups. Concerns about social desirability in relation to the religiosity scale are also considered. The study also highlights the need for more formal research on religiosity among non-Muslim faith groups in Malaysia as most of the formal research to date has been conducted on Muslim Malays.

Construct Validation of a Modified Religious Orientation Scale within an Islamic Context

This study added 12 new statements to the Persian version of 21-item religious orientation scale (ROS) and administered it to five hundred thirty six undergraduate students majoring in various fields in two universities in Mashhad, Iran. The application of the Principal Axis Factoring to the data and rotating the results via Varimax with Kaiser Normalization extracted seven factors, i.e., Inspirational, Intrinsic, Social, Concessional, Theo-pacific, Humanitarian and Sacrificial, establishing the ROS as a multidimensional ratōōher that bifactorial measure of religious orientation. The correlational analysis of the factors showed that Inspirational, Intrinsic, Social, Theo-pacific, Humanitarian and Sacrificial factors are significantly related to each other in a positive direction whereas the Concessional orientation towards religion relates significantly but negatively to the Inspirational, Intrinsic, Social, and Sacrificial factors. The implications of the findings are discussed and recommendations are made for future research.

Measuring Islamic Religiosity based on the four components of Islam

This study was motivated by the inability to compare the measurements of religiosity of Muslim consumers. The scales in these measurements lacked uniformity and as such their outcomes couldn't be usefully compared. An analysis of these scales revealed that they were all derived from the work of early Muslim scholars who lived in the period 699 to 855 A.D. The study aimed to test the classification introduced by those scholars using factor analysis to test the ability of their work to withstand modern scientific scrutiny with the objective of using that classification to create a more consistent scale to measure religiosity. A convenient sample consisting of 511 male and female Arab, Turkish, and Indonesian students were asked to answer a religiosity scale composed of 21 items. Factor analysis was used to group these items into fewer factors. The outcome of the analysis showed that the 21 items were grouped into four factors and that these factors roughly fit the four-category classification of Islamic (fiqh), and had an even better fit with the three-category classification. Other important findings were observed in relation to the differences in the subgroups of the sample. It was therefore recommended that a new scale be constructed using this category-based classification of Islamic religiosity, and that researchers make use of the massive untapped intellectual contributions of Muslim scholars that have accumulated since the early days of the Islamic civilization in the 7 th century A.D. and which included, in addition to religious subjects, other sciences such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, astronomy, and philosophy (Beg, 2006). Finally, it was recommended that these contributions be subjected to modern scientific scrutiny using the most advanced scientific tools and methodologies available to us today.

Descriptive Quantitative Analysis to Measure the level of Religiosity of students at the University

2022

This research purposed to determine the level of religiosity of students in Islamic Universities. The population of this study is students in one of the Islamic Universities on the island of Java as many as 2500 students. The type of research used is quantitative research. The selection of research samples using accidental sampling and the primary data obtained in this study were 291 respondents. The level of religiosity is measured by a scale of religiosity based on dimensions according to Glock and Stark (1965) with five dimensions namely belief, worship practice, deepening, religious knowledge and religious consequences. The level of religiosity in students is categorized as very high with score 4,4. The belief dimension is the dimension with the highest value among thefive existing dimensions.

CONSTRUCTION AND MEASURING CHARACTERISTICS OF QUESTIONNAIRE OF RELIGIOUSNESS

2014

The aim of this study was to examine the measuring characteristics of constructed religiousness questionnaire for people of the Islamic faith, in other words to establish its structural validity and reliability. The research was conducted on a sample of 250 respondents (70 male students and 160 female students). Factor analysis singled out three latent factors or dimensions of religiousness around which default items are grouped. The first isolated factor explained 19% of the variance and grouped statements relating to the acceptance of the basic postulates of Islamic belief, with an emphasis on cognitive internalization of the beliefs and perceptions of Allah in accordance with Islamic postulates. The second isolated factor explained 13% of thevariance and grouped items elated to religious orthopraxy-the practice of prayer. The third factor explained 10% of the variance and grouped items related to interpersonal relationships with other people in accordance with Islamic postulates. Consequently, it was concluded that the mentioned questionnaire examines and measures three dimensions of the religiousness of the islamic faith examinee. The primary dimension of religiousness is the acceptance and internalization of the fundamental postulates of Islamic belief, focusing on internalized belief and perception of Allah. The performance of prayer represents the second dimension through which a close relationship with Allah (SWT) is achieved and reinforces the belief, while the third dimension is represented by an interpersonal relationship with other people in accordance with Islamic postulates. Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient of the questionnaire was α = 0.950, which indicates that this is a highly homogenized research instrument, whose items are in a high degree of correlation.

Religiusity of Muslim Students in Islamic College

This study aims to determine the level of religiosity of first-year students studying at private Islamic universities in Indonesia. This study used a quantitative descriptive approach, with a single variable, namely religiosity. The participants of this study were 836 active students who were studying at private Islamic universities in Indonesia. The data collection tool uses the measuring tool The Centrality of Religiosity Scale (CRS) 15 by Huber & Huber (2012) which is arranged based on five dimensions, namely Intellect, Ideology, Public practice, Private practice, and Experience. The results showed that there were differences in categorization based on gender, faculty, and age. In the Agriculture study program, the lowest category was obtained compared to other faculties. In terms of gender, it was found that women were more religious than men, while based on age the ratio of high frequency was higher than low, except for the participants aged 22 and 23 years. The limitation of this study lies in the imbalance of the participants, so it cannot be said that the research subjects represent the population.