Measures work values, work habits, and employability skills related to work ethic in the workplace.
50 Questions
~13 min
Likert 7
Scale Development & Technical Details
Scale Overview
The Occupational Work Ethic Inventory – OWEI was developed by Roger B. Hill, Gregory C. Petty (1995). It is designed to measure Work Ethic. The scale is intended for use with Employees and students transitioning to work.
Scale Structure
This instrument consists of 50 items organized into 4 factors/subscales: Interpersonal Skills, Initiative, Dependability, Reversed Items.
Factor / Subscale
Items
N
Interpersonal Skills
17,22,28,29,31,32,33,37,41,42,43,46,47,48,50
15
Initiative
5,6,7,10,11,14,15,18,20,27,35,36,38,40,45,49
16
Dependability
1,3,4,8,12,16,23
7
Reversed Items
9,13,21,24,25,26,30,34,39,44
10
Response Format
Respondents rate each item using a 7-point Likert scale (1 = Strongly Disagree to 7 = Strongly Agree).
The scale includes 11 reverse-scored items to reduce acquiescence bias.
Scoring
Items are scored by subscale, with each subscale sum representing a distinct dimension.
Total scores range from 50 to 350. Interpretation guidelines:
Low Work Ethic: 50 – 150
Moderate Work Ethic: 151 – 250
High Work Ethic: 251 – 350
Psychometric Properties
Internal Consistency: The scale has demonstrated good to excellent internal consistency with reported Cronbach’s alpha values of Cronbach's alpha ranged from 0.90 to 0.95.
Administration
The scale is self-administered and typically takes approximately 10 minutes to complete. It can be administered individually or in group settings. No special training is required for administration.