Development of the Generic Situational Strength (GSS) scale: Measuring situational strength across contexts

Situational strength is a key characteristic of situations that has been proposed as a main determinant of when personality may (and may not) affect individuals’ behavior. However, to date, a measure assessing situational strength in various situations and thus, across contexts, is lacking. We followed a 10-step procedure in three phases (item development, scale construction, and scale evaluation) to develop a 24-item Generic Situational Strength (GSS) scale, which measures situational strength differences in Consequences, Constraints, and Clarity-Consistency. This chapter offers a new measure of situational strength that can advance research about how situational and personality characteristics interact to influence behavior. Furthermore, we provide detailed documentation of the key steps involved to develop the measure to offer a resource for future scale development practices.