Validation of the COMP-CRI Scale: New Job Competencies in Times of Crisis

Purpose: The Covid-19 pandemic evidenced the need for workers to develop skills to cope with changes, and in turn, for companies to create employment strategies. "Being a resilient company implies having the capacity (in terms of knowledge, skills, and attitudes) to survive changing, unpredictable, or directly unfavorable situations" that allow adequate work management. Therefore, this study aims to validate a scale of job competencies in times of crisis, which allows identifying the capacities, knowledge, skills, and attitudes of employees to manage the training of staff in the future. Design/Methodology/Approach: The present investigation establishes the Scale of Work Competencies in Crisis (COMP-CRI) as a new solid psychometric instrument. The COMP-CRI scale was validated after collecting data from 401 workers belonging to SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) from different provinces of the Highlands of Ecuador. The study design, having a descriptive scope, was non-experimental and longitudinal. Factor structures, reliability, and validity scores were also examined with the help of the SPSS-21 statistical program. Similarly, it included content validity through expert judgment, confirmatory factor analysis, reliability with Cronbach's Alpha, and intra-observer reliability was evaluated with the Kappa index. Findings: From this, the content analysis was carried out through the judgment of experts. The first review of the questions was obtained with nine dimensions and 27 questions. The confirmatory factor analysis used the Principal Components method and the anti-imagen test. Practical Implications: This study contributes directly to the construction of new literature; although the study of competencies is comprehensive, it is essential to know which competencies are critical for the success or failure of a business. Originality/Value: The COMP- CRI Scale develops competencies that were not observed before, such as the appropriate management of social networks. Nowadays, small and medium-sized companies have increasingly found the need for the owners of the companies and their workers to promote their business through the use of social networks.