A Study on Psychometric Properties of Internet Addiction among IT Professionals in Malaysia

The purpose of the current study is to examine the psychometric properties of the Internet addiction test (IAT) among IT professionals using Item Response Theory (IRT) and analysis of respondents’ demographic profiles. Using IAT, questionnaires consisting of 20 items were distributed among IT professionals, and 958 of the questionnaires returned from 67 organizations were analysed. To review the psychometric properties of the questionnaire, the current study used the Rasch model measurement approach, which permits examination of item difficulty level with precise measurement, detecting item fit, identifying item bias, as well as measuring respondents’ Internet addiction levels. The results show that the instrument has very good reliability indices as well as validity in terms of its unidimensionality, rating scale, and item fit statistics. The findings of the study posit that Internet addiction level description starts from effects on work performance up to conditions of stress and clinical symptoms. The younger and lower educated IT professionals more often tend to be addicted compared to those who have postgraduate educations and holding high management level positions.