Abstract
This study aims to retest the structure of the Turkish version of the five-item goal commitment scale in the teacher candidates. Four hundred sixty-five students were recruited from the pedagogical formation education program including departments of coaching education, sport management, recreation, history, accounting, public management, philosophy, Turkish language, tourism, English language, mathematics, the culture of religion and knowledge of ethics, painting, biology, nursing, and chemistry. Hollenbeck, Williams, and Klein (1989) developed Goal Commitment Scale with nine items. Klein, Wesson, Hollenbeck, Wright and DeShon (2001) revised the scale to 5 items. Şenel and Yıldız (2016) translated the scale in Turkish and tested the reliability and validity with the participation of students studying in the physical education and sports field. The data were analyzed with SPSS 22,0 by using independent sample t-test, Pearson Correlation. The structure of the scale was analyzed by using CFA in the AMOS program and EFA in SPSS. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) and Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity values were calculated to determine whether the data was proper for the factor analysis. KMO value was found to be 0,83, while Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity was statistically significant. According to EFA results, the factor loadings ranged between 0,75 and 0,84, while those in CFA ranged between 0,68 and 0,84. The scale displayed one dimension; the Eugene value was found to be 3,265. The contribution of the extracted dimension to the total variance was 65,294%. The internal consistency coefficient (Cronbach’s alpha) was 0,86. Measurement invariance analysis revealed that goal commitment scale worked in the same way for both genders. The CFA results showed that the scale had a perfect fit.