Development and Validation of a Short Form of the Occupational Work Ethic Inventory

The Occupational Work Ethic Inventory (OWEI) has been widely used to measure work ethic constructs by professionals in the fields of Career and Technical Education (CTE) and Human Resource Development (HRD). However, there are circumstances when a shorter instrument would have advantages, especially when a measure of work ethic is needed along with other instruments. We developed a short version of the Occupational Work Ethic Inventory (OWEI), the OWEI-SF. A subset of items from the original OWEI was identified, using a confirmatory factor analysis. The instrument was reduced from 50 items to 12 items. Item selection, parameter estimation, cross-validation, and comparisons with the original OWEI are presented and discussed. Results indicated that the shortened version demonstrates psychometric properties similar to the original full version and is practical and efficient to administer.