Abstract

This research involved developing a tool for measuring boredom state with a sample of Cameroonian workers. Boredom refers to a state of under-arousal, caused by the experience of an aversive situation of idleness, perceived as useless and discouraging (Rengade, 2016). Recent scientific literature highlights the adverse effects of boredom on workers' health and organisational performance (Vodanovich & Watt (2016). The lack of an operational tool to diagnose boredom at work limits the possibilities of managerial intervention aimed at developing appropriate managerial strategies. However, similar studies revealed an increase in the number of Cameroonian civil servants with work contracts, regular salaries, identified work stations, missions and work objectives to achieve, who report a permanent feeling of emptiness, monotony and dejection (Simaleu, 2021; Doumbeneny, 2021). We applied the cross-cultural validation procedure proposed by Vallerand (1989), to adapt the multidimensional state boredom instrument (MSBS) by Fahlman et al. to the Cameroonian context. The study was carried out in three stages with a sample of 469 civil servants. Our results are in line with the measurement model of the original version, which is a five-factor structure (low arousal, disengagement, high arousal, inattention and time perception). Despite the existing socio-cultural differences between the validation context of the original version and the Cameroonian context, the structure which is similar to the original version of the MSBS obtains better fit indices with the data collected from Cameroonian workers (CFI = .99; GFI: 0.99; SRMR = 0.05; RMSEA=.004). Since the Cameroonian version of the MSBS has been able to demonstrate adequate psychometric properties, it can therefore be used as a measure of boredom at work.

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