DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDITY OF A SOCIOECONOMIC WELL-BEING INSTRUMENT FOR B40 HOUSEHOLDS IN MALAYSIA: EXPLORATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS (EFA)

Abstract

This study focuses on developing and assessing the construct validity of the B40 Socioeconomic Wellbeing instrument using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) involving 390 respondents from B40 households in urban (Klang Valley) and rural areas (Sik, Kedah). This instrument comprises three main constructs: Financial Well-being, Daily Spending Patterns, and Government Policy Effectiveness. The findings show that all constructs have KMO values above 0.70, and the Bartlett's test is significant (p < 0.001), indicating that the data are suitable for factor analysis. The Financial Wellbeing construct (KMO = 0.741) yielded three factors, retaining nine items and dropping one item (Q3). In contrast, the Daily Spending Patterns construct (KMO = 0.931) formed a single factor with 10 items retained, explaining 57.87% of the variance. In addition, the construct of Government Policy Effectiveness (KMO = 0.919) retained all 10 items, with two main factors identified: Direct Economic Assistance and Access and Information on Government Programs. Overall, the EFA results confirmed that all three constructs have a valid and stable factor structure, making this instrument suitable for use in assessing the socioeconomic well-being of B40 households in Malaysia.