The concept of employee well-being is increasingly recognized as a critical factor in organizational sustainability and performance. However, most existing measurement instruments are derived from Western contexts and and may not adequately capture the collectivist cultural values that characterize Indonesia. This study aimed to develop and validate a culturally grounded well-being instrument specifically designed for Indonesian employees.
Data were collected from 220 employees aged 23-55 years across major cities in Java, Indonesia. The instrument comprised five dimensions: financial, physical, social, psychological, and spiritual well-being. Item generation began with an elicitation process involving 30 respondents to ensure cultural relevance, resulting in 45 items (nine per dimension). Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) using Lisrel 8.80 demonstrated satisfactory model fit for each dimension (χ²/df < 3, p > .05, RMSEA < .05, CFI and TLI > .90). All items within the financial, physical, and spiritual dimensions were valid (t > 1.96), while three social items and one psychological item were excluded due to low factor loadings. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) indicated that psychological well-being contributed most strongly to overall well-being (λ = 0.935), followed by physical (λ = 0.788), social (λ = 0.783), financial (λ = 0.719), and spiritual well-being (λ = 0.546).
Contrary to the common assumption that social and spiritual factors serve as the primary determinants of Indonesian well-being, the findings suggest that psychological well-being—encompassing positive affect, life satisfaction, purpose in life, and adaptive emotion regulation—plays a more central role among Indonesian employees. This study contributes to cross-cultural well-being research by providing empirical evidence that psychological rather than social and spiritual dimensions may underlie well-being in collectivist contexts and introduces a psychometrically robust instrument for assessing employee well-being in Indonesia.