Project goals

Develop a comprehensive questionnaire to reliably measure corporate empathy throughout the US business sector.

Author a whitepaper providing a clear, scientifically-backed explanation of the concept of corporate empathy.

Use psychometric validation methods to ensure the assessment serves as a reliable and valid tool for organisations.

Phase 1: Development of the test

We established the definition of corporate empathy by examining existing research on individual empathy, emotional intelligence, and corporate social responsibility, creating a comprehensive framework for evaluating a company’s interactions with a wide range of stakeholders.

Following this framework, we crafted an initial set of 45 items along with a response scale. These items were designed to measure three aspects of corporate empathy: behavioural (actions demonstrating social responsibility), cognitive (understanding others’ perspectives), and affective (empathetic concern), across six stakeholder categories: employees, business partners, customers, shareholders, the environment, and society.

We then developed the complete questionnaire, including introductory information, instructions, final items, and response options.

Phase 2: Pilot Study – Exploratory analysis

In the initial phase of our research, we engaged two experts in organisational psychology to review our questionnaire. This step was necessary to ensure that each question was clear and truly reflected the concept we wanted to measure, known as ‘corporate empathy. Following an inter-rater agreement procedure, we administered the questionnaire to 67 U.S. organisational leaders. We then employed three analytical methods to assess the responses:

Firstly, the exploratory factor analysis with maximum likelihood estimation and oblimin rotation helped us understand the grouping of items. This revealed which items effectively captured various aspects of corporate empathy and which might be redundant. Secondly, we conducted a reliability analysis using Cronbach’s alpha to ensure that the questionnaire items cohesively and consistently measured the intended construct. Lastly, cognitive interviews with 10 respondents, supplemented by written feedback from another 10, allowed us to evaluate the questionnaire’s content and response processes. This step was crucial for aligning participant understanding with our intended interpretation, ensuring clarity and relevance in the questionnaire.We then developed the complete questionnaire, including introductory information, instructions, final items, and response options.

Phase 3: Refining the questionnaire and validating the final form

Following insights from the pilot study, we refined our questionnaire, narrowing it down to 26 items.

We then tested this updated version on a bigger sample of 579 working professionals from the United States.

In this research phase, we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis to validate our assessment’s structure and the number of factors it contains. This process was key in confirming our hypotheses about the assessment’s design and understanding the relationship between each questionnaire item and the factors of corporate empathy. We then assessed the reliability of our assessment by examining the coherence among items within each dimension of the concept. This critical step ensured that our corporate empathy assessment consistently and accurately measures the intended aspects of corporate empathy.

Phase 4: Psychometric Information Brief

Lastly, we created a statistics manual and an information brief. These documents offer in-depth information on the demographic data collected during our research. They also include a thorough explanation of the reliability assessments and factor analyses conducted. Furthermore, they present key findings from both the pilot and validation studies. These resources are designed to give a clear and complete overview of our research process and its outcomes.