@inproceedings{schmidmaier2025systematic,
title = {A Systematic and Validated Translation of the Perceived Empathy of Technology Scale from English to German},
author = {Matthias Schmidmaier and Lukas Sch\"{o}berl and Jonathan Rupp and Sven Mayer},
doi = {10.1145/3743049.3743082},
year = {2025},
date = {2025-08-31},
urldate = {2025-08-31},
booktitle = {Proceedings of Mensch und Computer 2025},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address     = {New York, NY, USA},
location = {Chemnitz, Germany},
series = {MuC\'25},
abstract = {Empathic interaction is becoming increasingly important in human-AI interaction, particularly for applications in emotional and mental health support. As these technologies expand globally, culturally and linguistically adapted evaluation tools become essential, as research shows that emotional processing and empathic responses are stronger in one\'s native language. We present a systematic translation and validation of the Perceived Empathy of Technology Scale (PETS) from English to German, following a comprehensive back-translation methodology. Our process included multiple independent translations, expert group discussions, and validation with $N=400$ participants across both languages. Through confirmatory factor analysis and measurement invariance testing, we demonstrate that the German PETS maintains the two-factor structure of the original scale with excellent reliability and achieves configural, metric, and scalar invariance across languages. This validated German PETS enables researchers and developers to accurately assess how German-speaking users perceive the empathic behavior of technological systems, supporting the development of culturally appropriate empathic technologies while further establishing a methodological foundation for future scale translations in HCI.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}