The cross-cultural application of the social axioms survey in The South African police service

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to investigate the replicability, construct equivalence, item bias and reliability of the Social Axioms Survey (SAS) in the South African Police Service (SAPS). A cross-sectional survey design was used. the participants consisted of applicants who had applied for jobs in the SAPS (n = 1535), and the SAS was administered to them. An exploratory factor analysis utilising target rotation applied to all 60 items of the SAS revealed four interpretable factors (Social Cynicism, reward for Application, Fate Control, and Spirituality/religiosity). Values of tucker’s phi higher than 0,90 were found for seven language groups (Zulu, Sotho, Tswana, Swati, Tsonga, Venda and Pedi). Analyses of variance found that item bias was not a major disturbance. Unacceptable alpha values were found for some of the scales of the SAS.