Initial Construction and Validation of the Islamic Gratitude (I-Gratitude) Scale

Abstract

Gratitude represents a general state of appreciation and is considered the root of most religious traditions. Islam views gratitude as a way Muslims relate to their Creator by appreciating His assistance. Literature founds that many scales measuring gratitude were constructed without the integration of Shukr (i.e., Islamic concept of gratitude), or limit the constructed items on gratitude between human being and Allah alone, and some lacks it empirical psychometric evidence. a Due to this reason, we aim to construct a scale that follows a more comprehensive conceptualization of gratitude encompasses different domains of Muslim’s life. The current study discusses the processes of Islamic gratitude scale construction and its initial validation. The scale aims to measure Muslims’ level of gratitude (Shukr) conceptualized into three domains: Gratitude by Heart, Gratitude by Verbal, and Gratitude by Action. Thirty initial items were constructed, and ten subject matter experts (SMEs) were approached for their professional insights on the necessity of each item. Content Validity Ratio (CVR) was used to decide which item to retain in the scale. Based on the SMEs’ feedback, the number of items was reduced to 26.A test tryout was conducted on 183 participants for a preliminary analysis on the scale’s psychometric properties. Factorial analysis revealed a four-factor structure with internal consistency of .85. Further discussion on the scale’s usefulness, limitations, and future recommendations are also included.