This study utilized a cross-sectional explanatory-correlational design approach to assess psychologists’ engagement in professional events and to analyze its correlation with professional identity. The study also examined whether educational attainment, professional experience, and workplace context moderate. The relationship between participation in professional events and professional identity, employing structural equation modeling (SEM).

Participants were recruited through a random distributed internet questionnaire aimed at evaluating psychologists’ engagement in professional events and their degree of professional identification. The poll link was disseminated via professional networks and institutional communication channels. Participation was available to psychologists of all genders, and selection was performed without stratification to guarantee extensive representation across professional environments. The ultimate analytical sample consisted of 364 psychologists. Participants were required to possess a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in psychology or a related field and to be currently engaged in the public, private, or academic sectors. Participation was entirely voluntary and dependent on informed permission following a thorough elucidation of the study’s objective.

Informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to their participation in the study. Consent was obtained electronically through the online questionnaire, which is considered a form of written informed consent. Before accessing the survey, participants were presented with a detailed information sheet explaining the purpose of the study, procedures, confidentiality measures, and their right to withdraw at any time without penalty. Participants were required to indicate their consent by selecting an agreement option before proceeding to the questionnaire. No minors were involved in this study; therefore, assent procedures were not applicable.

Participants were guaranteed that their responses would be kept secret and utilized solely for scientific research reasons. The sample exhibited equitable gender representation, with males comprising 49.2% (n = 179) and females 50.8% (n = 185). The majority of participants possessed a bachelor’s degree (67.9%, n = 247), whilst 32.1% (n = 117) indicated holding postgraduate qualifications. The majority possessed less than five years of experience (68.7%, n = 250), followed by those with five to fewer than ten years (17.0%, n = 62), and those with more than ten years of professional experience (14.3%, n = 52). In the employment sector, 63.7% (n = 232) were employed in private institutions, 26.4% (n = 96) in governmental settings, and 9.9% (n = 36) in university institutions.

Participants indicated various types of professional participation, comprising preventative actions (27.0%, n = 98), therapeutic activities (25.1%, n = 91), community-based initiatives (5.8%, n = 21), and training events (6.1%, n = 22). Significantly, almost one third of the sample (36.1%, n = 131) reported engagement in various professional activities, indicating extensive professional exposure. Questionnaires that were incomplete and replies that did not satisfy the established inclusion criteria were discarded before analysis. Ethical approval for the study was secured from the pertinent ethics committees at Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, and all procedures were executed in compliance with internationally acknowledged ethical norms for research involving human subjects. As shown in Table 1 which showed that The sample was approximately gender-balanced, with somewhat more women. Most participants had bachelor’s degrees, and one-third had postgraduate degrees. Psychologists with less than five years of experience were the majority, while those with more than ten years were the minority. Most participants were working in the commercial sector, followed by government entities and a minor academic sector. Engagement across all activities was the most common sort of professional event involvement, while community-based participation was the least common.

To achieve the study’s objectives, the survey’s questionnaire included items on demographic variables (e.g., gender, professional experience, working context (public, private, or academic), professional categorization, and professional event attendance) and the Professional Identity Scale in Counseling (PISC), which is outlined below.

Professional Identity Scale in Counseling (PISC)

The Professional Identity Scale in Counseling (PISC) was utilized to evaluate professional identity, which was first designed to examine counselors’ professional identity as a multidimensional construct. The scale comprises 54 items categorized into six dimensions that embody the theoretical elements of professional identity: Engagement Behaviors, Knowledge of the Profession, Professional Roles and Expertise, Attitudes toward the Profession, Philosophy of the Profession, and Professional Values. Each dimension consists of a specific collection of items that represent the behavioral, cognitive, and attitudinal facets of professional identity. Responses to the PISC are evaluated using a Likert-type scale, where elevated scores signify a more robust and cohesive professional identity. Subscale scores are derived by aggregating the pertinent elements for each dimension, while the overall professional identity score is calculated by totaling all items of the scale.

Validity and reliability

The construct validity of the PISC was determined by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) employing the principal components approach with Varimax rotation. The research revealed six unique components aligned with the theoretical framework of the scale, together accounting for 43.54% of the total variation. Convergent validity was evidenced by statistically significant relationships between the six PISC categories and the scores on the Professional Identity and Values Scale (PIVS). Furthermore, discriminant validity was affirmed by the lack of significant correlations with scores on the Marlowe–Crowne Social Desirability Scale (M–C20), suggesting that responses were not affected by social desirability bias.

The PISC’s dependability was assessed by Cronbach’s alpha coefficients. The internal consistency values for the six subscales varied from 0.67 to 0.91, although the overall scale exhibited exceptional dependability with a coefficient of 0.94. The results demonstrate a significant degree of internal consistency and validate the appropriateness of the PISC for application in psychological and counseling research settings.

The Professional Identity Scale in Counseling (PISC) was translated into Arabic through a forward-backward translation methodology. To ascertain face validity, the translated version was evaluated by a panel of subject-matter experts in counseling psychology and by professionals specializing in both Arabic and English linguistics. In response to their feedback, minor linguistic and contextual adjustments were implemented on many items to enhance clarity, cultural relevance, and appropriateness for the intended audience of professional psychologists. This study evaluated internal consistency validity by analyzing the correlations between each subscale and the overall scale score. The findings revealed statistically significant correlations, indicating adequate internal consistency. The reliability analysis conducted with Cronbach’s alpha produced a coefficient of 0.93 for the whole scale. The alpha values for the subscales were as follows: Engagement Behaviors (α = 0.88), Knowledge of the Profession (α = 0.86), Professional Roles and Expertise (α = 0.90), Attitudes toward the Profession (α = 0.85), Philosophy of the Profession (α = 0.81), and Professional Values (α = 0.84), demonstrating acceptable to high internal consistency.

Future research should use multidimensional measures of professional participation which include qualitative engagement indicators for their assessment.

Data is examined utilizing SPSS and structural equation modeling (SEM) (JASP) software. Descriptive statistics were calculated for all demographic and research variables. The internal consistency reliability of the Professional Identity Scale in Counseling (PISC) was evaluated utilizing Cronbach’s alpha. Pearson’s correlation coefficients were employed to analyze bivariate relationships among the study variables. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with maximum likelihood estimation was utilized to examine the direct and indirect impacts of involvement in professional events on professional identity, with educational attainment, professional experience, and workplace context conceptualized as potential mediators. The model’s fit was assessed using conventional fit indices (CFI, TLI, RMSEA, and SRMR), with statistical significance established at p < .05.

Table 2 provides descriptive statistics for all study variables. The results show that most domains of measurement display moderate engagement levels which reach their peak in psychological–mental participation (M = 8.78, SD = 2.07) while community and social involvement (M = 4.70, SD = 1.20) and health awareness activities (M = 3.11, SD = 0.88) follow behind. The data showed that people took part in educational–professional events at a rate of (M = 1.56, SD = 0.50) which represented a low level of participation.

Figure 1 shows that the overall index of professional events participation demonstrated a moderate to high level (M = 18.15, SD = 4.10) which showed that participants took part in multiple professional activities. The finding of lower participant rates in structured educational events shows that people prefer to participate in activities which involve practical applications instead of attending formal professional development programs.

Although the variables deviated from normality, visual inspection of the scatter plots indicates linear and stable relationships, supporting the use of regression-based analytical models.

Table 3 displays the descriptive statistics which show the professional identity dimensions assessed with the Professional Identity Scale in Counseling (PISC) measurement. The results show that Engagement Behaviors serves as the primary dimension which shows the highest value with a measurement of (M = 58.16, SD = 8.13) because participants display their professional identity through their active participation in professional work. The next highest dimension after this measurement shows Knowledge of the Profession which has a measurement of (M = 46.46, SD = 5.62) because people possess strong cognitive abilities to understand their professional duties and industry requirements.

Figure 2 shows that participants showed positive professional attitudes with moderate scores which reached (M = 40.21, SD = 4.88) and they showed professional role expertise with moderate scores which reached (M = 38.10, SD = 5.35). The participants showed lower mean scores for the two categories of professional identity which measured their Philosophy of the Profession (M = 31.66, SD = 3.46) and their Professional Values (M = 18.81, SD = 1.90) because they showed less development for these two professional identity components which required deep reflection and value assessment. The total PISC score shows an average professional identity level with a measurement of (M = 233.40, SD = 24.23). The results show that people develop their identity through behavioral and practice-oriented methods before they develop their abstract and philosophical and value-based identity dimensions. This pattern may reflect a practice-driven professional environment in which opportunities for reflective engagement and value articulation are limited.

Figure 2, scatter plots show the correlations between engagement behaviors (EnB) and the six characteristics of professional identity and the Professional Identity Scale in Counseling. The smoothed regression trends show that engagement activities positively affect all professional identity variables. Greater involvement is linked to stronger professional identity, as seen by the overall PISC score, which is strongest and most linear. Data points and smooth patterns indicate moderate to strong correlations, indicating sustained professional identity development among psychologists.

Table 4 displays the results of the measurement model for the latent construct of professional identity are shown in Table 4 The six indicators showed significant standardized factor loadings which ranged from 0.598 to 0.870 (p < .001) which proved that each dimension functioned as an accurate measure of the underlying construct. The three dimensions of Engagement Behaviors, Professional Roles and Expertise, and Attitude showed the highest loadings which indicates that these dimensions represent the main elements of professional identity within the current study population. The construct showed reliable measurement because its internal consistency assessment produced acceptable results which included Cronbach’s alpha (α = 0.861) and McDonald’s omega (ω = 0.897) values that both passed the established benchmarks. These results indicate strong internal consistency and adequate representation of the latent construct.

The measurement model shows suitable psychometric characteristics which enable researchers to use the latent construct for upcoming structural studies. The study needs to conduct additional tests which will evaluate both convergent and discriminant validity in future research investigations. In addition, the composite reliability (CR) of the construct was estimated at approximately 0.89, indicating excellent internal consistency. The average variance extracted (AVE) was approximately 0.56, exceeding the recommended threshold of 0.50 and supporting convergent validity. These findings further confirm the adequacy of the measurement model. Following confirmation of the measurement model, the structural model was evaluated using standard fit indices ( Table 5).

As shown in Table 5, Theoretical justification and model fit indices were used to create new model specifications; The model eliminated the non-significant direct path from professional event participation to professional identity while adding a new path which connected educational level to professional experience. The revised model fit indices appear in Table 5, The results indicate that the modified model achieved an acceptable level of fit. The model showed good fit because both the Comparative Fit Index (CFI = 0.921) and Tucker–Lewis Index (TLI = 0.903) surpassed the 0.90 threshold, The Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA = 0.078) fell within acceptable limits which the Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR = 0.052) confirmed as adequate for the model, Model specification happened through theoretical grounds and statistical evidence which resulted in two changes. The model lost its direct connection between professional event participation and professional identity because non-significant paths were deleted while the educational level path to professional experience path was Adde,. The model showed an acceptable level of fit toward the revised model. The study showed that the Comparative Fit Index (CFI = 0.921) and Tucker–Lewis Index (TLI = 0.903) values exceeded the minimum threshold requirement which stands at 0.90. The model fit was confirmed through RMSEA (0.078) and SRMR (0.052) which demonstrated good performance to validate the revised structural model. This is evident in the Figure 3.

Figure 3 shows that Theoretical justification and model fit indices were used to create new model specifications; The model eliminated the non-significant direct path from professional event participation to professional identity while adding a new path which connected educational level to professional experience. The revised model fit indices appear in Table 5, The results indicate that the modified model achieved an acceptable level of fit. The model showed good fit because both the Comparative Fit Index (CFI = 0.921) and Tucker–Lewis Index (TLI = 0.903) surpassed the 0.90 threshold, The Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA = 0.078) fell within acceptable limits which the Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR = 0.052) confirmed as adequate for the model, Model specification happened through theoretical grounds and statistical evidence which resulted in two changes. The model lost its direct connection between professional event participation and professional identity because non-significant paths were deleted while the educational level path to professional experience path was Adde,. The model showed an acceptable level of fit toward the revised model. The study showed that the Comparative Fit Index (CFI = 0.921) and Tucker–Lewis Index (TLI = 0.903) values exceeded the minimum threshold requirement which stands at 0.90. The model fit was confirmed through RMSEA (0.078) and SRMR (0.052) which demonstrated good performance to validate the revised structural model.

Figure 3 illustrates the revised structural model, indicating that professional event participation influences professional identity indirectly through educational level and professional experience rather than through a direct pathway.

The revised structural model provides a different perspective on the relationships among the study variables. Rather than demonstrating statistically significant mediation effects, the findings suggest that professional event participation does not exert a direct influence on professional identity, but is better understood within a broader structural context. In the respecified model, educational level emerged as the only significant predictor of professional identity, highlighting its central role in shaping professional self-concept. Although professional event participation was associated with educational level and professional experience, these pathways did not result in statistically significant indirect effects.

These findings indicate that the influence of professional events may be conceptualized as theoretically indirect rather than empirically mediated within the current model. This suggests that the development of professional identity is more strongly grounded in formal education than in participation in professional events alone, These findings reinforce the structural interpretation of the model, emphasizing the limited empirical role of event participation in predicting professional identity.

Table 6 displays the Educational level emerged as the only significant predictor of professional identity, highlighting the central role of formal academic preparation in shaping counselors’ professional self-concept. Conversely, professional experience and workplace setting did not exhibit significant predictive power, The model demonstrated limited predictive capacity, with educational level emerging as the only significant predictor.

This study found that psychologists participated moderately to highly in professional events, with psychological–mental activities being the most popular, followed by community and health-awareness activities, and educational–professional activities being the least popular ³ found that clinical and community-oriented commitments often take precedence due to their immediate applicability to client care and organizational expectations. Psychologists emphasize conferences and workshops that affect therapeutic competence, according to. ¹⁹ However ^{20, 21} found significantly higher participation in structured educational programs in more regulation-intensive contexts, suggesting that the regulatory environment strongly influences participation patterns. In this study, lesser engagement in educational–professional events may be due to limited institutional incentives or accreditation requirements, leading to a desire for immediate professional utility. Communities of Practice theory suggests that professionals prefer activities within their core practice communities to peripheral or highly formalized educational activities.

Professional identity was moderate-to-high, with Engagement Behaviors being the most developed dimension, surpassing knowledge, roles, values, and philosophical foundations. This is congruent with ²⁸ that noted behavioral identity indicators like active involvement, initiative, and participation develop earlier than abstract cognitive and philosophical aspects. Psychology’s most visible and institutionalized aspect is identity manifested through professional behavior, according to. ³³ However, ³² warned that externally driven professional behaviors may lead to an incomplete or fragmented sense of identity without strong attitudinal and philosophical grounding. The practice-oriented nature of professional responsibilities may offer repeated opportunities to perform identity-related actions but fewer opportunities to articulate deeper professional values or philosophical stances, which may explain the prevalence of engagement behaviors in this study. Since practical implementation generally precedes professional meaning internalization, constructivist identity theories support this perspective.

The structural equation model found no direct effect of professional event participation on professional identity, which is notable. This association is statistically insignificant, contrary to the belief that engagement inherently develops professional identity. Attendance alone does not ensure identity transformation, especially when events lack reflective, supervisory, or relational components, according to ^{20, 32} noted that corporate culture, supervisory models, and learning climate impact professional participation’s developmental worth. This contradicts ^{7, 19} who found favorable connections between professional involvement and perceived competence, professional belonging, and job clarity. This setting may have been quantitative and task-oriented rather than qualitatively developing, according to these findings. Identity-in-Practice theory suggests that identity development needs profound cognitive and social engagement, not just physical attendance or procedural involvement.

The non-significant indirect effects through education, professional experience, and workplace context support the idea that participation-identity processes are immature or structurally weak ^{3, 21} also found that psychosocial processes rather than demographic or contextual factors often shape identity. This contradicts ^{18, 19} who showed that mentorship, collegial engagement, and institutional support can help participants develop meaningful identities. The lack of mediating effects suggests a gap between professional events and institutional learning mechanisms, Socialization theory suggests that indirect effects only occur when people are entrenched in coherent social and organizational systems that actively cultivate identity, which may not be the case in the examined context.

Unlike involvement and mediation, educational degree was the only significant predictor of professional identity, ^{28, 33} noted that formal academic preparation provides the conceptual, ethical, and philosophical foundations for a coherent and well-integrated professional identity. These findings contradict with studies that say practice-based learning shapes identity, especially among experienced practitioners. However, these findings suggest that academic programs may be the only systematic way to learn professional values, principles, and role clarity. Professional Identity Formation (PIF) models explain the findings by arguing that identity is first grounded in academic indoctrination before being renegotiated in practice.

Finally, professional experience and workplace setting did not significantly contribute to professional identity, highlighting a key point: identity development is not a given outcome of time in the field or exposure to specific work contexts. This agrees with ^{20, 32} that noted identity building relied on qualitative professional encounters rather than quantitative experience. This contradicts research that suggests stronger collegial engagement or institutional reflection can boost identity in particular academic or organizational environments. ^{7, 19} Due to the limited predictive value of experience and work context, professional environments may not consistently promote reflective practice, mentorship, or identity-oriented conversation. Experience decoupling suggests that only integrative, reflective, and contextually scaffolded experience contributes to identity.

Results evaluation must account for study constraints, Cross-sectional research challenges professional event and identity causality, examining professional identity development over time requires longitudinal techniques, Self-reported measures may be skewed despite anonymity. The study included public, private, and university psychologists, although an electronically distributed survey may have limited digitally competent participants, impacting sample representativeness. Finally, the professional events involvement index measured breadth but not quality, intensity, or duration, which may change professional identity. This study has benefits despite its shortcomings, The broad and diversified sample of professional psychologists made the findings more generalizable, For more accurate and interpretable results, use a well-validated, multidimensional professional identity measure (PISC) with good psychometric properties. The strong analytical framework of structural equation modeling facilitates direct and indirect research variable connections, quantifying professional event participation measures involvement, these aspects corroborate the study’s conclusions and make it relevant to professional psychology.

The study found that educational level was the sole significant predictor of professional identity, hence formal academic and pre-service preparation should be prioritized. Professional psychology programs should promote participation, professional expertise, and role clarity through clear identity-focused curriculum, reflective activities, and supervised learning. Restructure professional events and ongoing professional development to promote thoughtful interaction, mentoring, and professional ideals rather than attendance. Given the lower levels of philosophical and values-based professional identity, specialized programs on ethics, philosophy, and values are necessary. These recommendations emphasize the necessity for intentional, evidence-based professional growth that prioritizes identity creation and is suited for high-impact Springer journals.