How Do We Assess How Agentic We Are? A Literature Review of Existing Instruments to Evaluate and Measure Individuals' Agency

The importance and centrality of the construct of agency is wellknown amongst social scientists. Yet, there is still little agreement on how this construct should be understood and defined, as demonstrated by the diversity of instruments that are used to investigate it. Indeed, there is no current c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social indicators research 2022-02, Vol.159 (3), p.1125-1153
Main Authors: Cavazzoni, Federica, Fiorini, Alec, Veronese, Guido
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults
Age differences
Bibliographic literature
Children
Empowerment
Evaluation
Human Geography
Literature reviews
Microeconomics
Mining
Mothers
Original Research
Policy making
Public Health
Quality of Life Research
Social environment
Social Sciences
Social scientists
Sociology
Women
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Summary:The importance and centrality of the construct of agency is wellknown amongst social scientists. Yet, there is still little agreement on how this construct should be understood and defined, as demonstrated by the diversity of instruments that are used to investigate it. Indeed, there is no current consensus or standardized methodology to assess agency. This paper provides a synthetic overview of the studies that have evaluated and measured individuals' agency. More specifically, the purpose is to review research that quantitatively investigates the agency of adults, as well as children and youth, across different social contexts. In the process, it offers recommendations to inform future research, practice, and policy. We identified published peer-reviewed studies relating to the assessment of agency across countries and across age through a narrative literature review. The findings were grouped according to whether agency was measured in its most comprehensive conception or in a precise single domain or dimension, which was then discussed separately for children, adults, and women. Of the 3879 studies identified from online searches of the literature and the five additional sources gathered through bibliography mining, 106 qualified for full review, with 34 studies included in the final synthesis. Multiple different instruments were found to be currently adopted or developed to assess agency. The present review offers an exhaustive overview of the different conceptualizations of agency and of the available instruments to assess it, providing critical information for researchers and policymakers to improve intervention and empowerment programs.
ISSN:0303-8300
1573-0921
DOI:10.1007/s11205-021-02791-8