Job Demands and Decision Latitude scale

Description

This measure (Job Demands and Decision Latitude) was developed by Karasek (1979) to assess the effects of stressful jobs on the physical health of employees. A job demand subscale that uses seven items describes psychological stressors such as workload and time pressures. Eight items describe job decision latitude. Four of these items relate to an employee’s discretion in applying skills to do the job. Four items described an employee’s authority to make job-related decisions. Job demands and decision latitude are constructs that can vary independently in a work environment (Fortunato, Jex, & Heinish, 1999; Xie, 1996).

Reliability

The coefficient alpha values for job demands ranged from.79 to .88, and the alpha values for job control or decision latitude ranged from.77 to .85 (Chay, 1993; Fortunato et al., 1999; Moyle & Parkes, 1999; Parkes, 1990; Westman, 1992; Xie, 1996; Zohar, 1995).

Validity

Work demands correlated positively with hours worked per week, psycho­ logical distress, being married, employee negative affectivity, and employee somatic complaints (Chay, 1993; Moyle & Parkes, 1999; Parkes, 1990). Work demand correlated negatively with social support from managers and job satisfaction (Moyle & Parkes, 1999). Decision latitude correlated posi­ tively with job level, hours worked per week, and job satisfaction (Chay, 1993; Moyle & Parkes, 1999; Xie, 1996). Decision latitude correlated nega­ tively with employee somatic complaints (Chay, 1993; Xie, 1996).

Xie (1996) used factor analysis to examine the items and found that the items measuring job demands and decision latitude loaded on two factors exactly as suggested by Karasek (1979).

Source

Items

 Responses are obtained using a 5-point Likert-type scale where 1 = never and 5 = extremely often.

Job demand items:

1. To what extent does your job require your working fast?
2. To what extent does your job require your working hard?
3. To what extent does your job require a great deal of work to be done?
4. To what extent is there not enough time for you to do your job?
5. To what extent is there excessive work in your job?
6. To what extent do you feel there is not enough time for you to finish your work?
7. To what extent are you faced with conflicting demands on your job?

Skill discretion items:

1. To what extent is high skill level required?
2. To what extent are you required to learn new things?
3. To what extent is your work non-repetitious?
4. To what extent does your job require creativity?

Decision authority items:

1. To what extent do you have the freedom to decide how to organize your work?
2. To what extent do you have control over what happens on your job?
3. To what extent does your job allow you to make a lot of your own decisions?
4. To what extent are you assisted in making your own decisions?