Adaptation and Validation of the German Sensitivity to Befallen Injustice Scales into French

Abstract

Justice sensitivity (JS) was introduced as a personality construct that contributes to the explanation of individual differences in justice judgment and behavior. Schmitt, Gollwitzer, Maes, and Arbach (2005) developed scales for measuring three types of justice sensitivity: victim sensitivity, observer sensitivity, and beneficiary sensitivity. The aim of the present study was to adapt these scales into French and to validate them, following the steps of the cross-cultural validation procedure detailed by Vallerand (1989). Four studies involving a total of 1,200 participants were conducted in order to establish a preliminary French version of the scales, to analyse their factorial validity via exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and, last, to analyze the temporal stability of the final French version of the JS scales. Factor analysis revealed a three-dimensional solution similar to that of the original German version. The French scales have satisfactory internal consistency and stability. The entire pattern of the results suggests that the use of the French scales is pertinent to studies on injustice.