Measuring work ability beyond health: Development & construct validity of the Work Ability Survey revised German

Research output: Journal contributionsConference abstract in journalResearchpeer-review

Authors

The development of the German version of the Work Ability Survey revised (WAS-R) is presented. The WAS-R is improving psychometric problems of the Work Ability Index (WAI), i.e. a ceiling effect. Addi-tionally, it is integrating factors of work place and social environment into the measurement of work ability. Few studies have been using the WAS-R, and no validation study has been published, yet. We trans-lated the 54-item version of the WAS-R in a translation-backtranslation process. A sample of 1,052 senior managers of the German chemical industry was used for construct validation. Participants completed an online-survey of the WAS-R, the WAI, measures of job attitude and questions concerning retirement age. Factorial structure was tested using confirmatory factor analysis. Internal consistency of the subscales of the WAS-R ranged from .58 to .94. The WAS-R total score was correlated significantly with the WAI (r = .56, p < .001), job satisfaction (r = .73, p < .001), desired retirement age (r = .16, p = <.001), and willingness to return to one’s organization, if asked (r =.32, p < .001). Lower skew and kurtosis indicated a better distribution of the WAS-R than of the WAI. We compared results from our sample with a subsample of the Australian WAS-R study. The German version of the WAS-R extends our understanding of work ability by integrating characteristics of work place and social environment. Its psychometric properties allow para-metric statistical analysis. Interventions aiming at the improvement of work ability can be derived from its detailed subscales.
Original languageEnglish
JournalThe Gerontologist
Volume54
Issue numberSuppl_2
Pages (from-to)328
Number of pages1
ISSN0016-9013
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.11.2014
EventThe Gerontological Society of America's Annual Scientific Meeting - GSA 2014: Making Connections: From Cells to Societies. - Kansas city, Washington, DC, United States
Duration: 05.11.201409.11.2014
Conference number: 67
https://www.geron.org/press-room/press-releases/2014-press-releases/349-the-gerontological-society-of-america-selects-2014-fellows
https://www.thegsa.org/sites/default/files/GSA_program_14.pdf

DOI

Recently viewed

Researchers

  1. Ewelina Baginska

Publications

  1. Implementing Environmental Management Accounting in South-East Asian Companies
  2. Resilience and the Sustainable Development Goals
  3. Wie kann Versöhnung gefördert werden?
  4. §13 Grundlagen der Zusammenarbeit
  5. Studierende können lernen, sich selbst zum Lernen zu motivieren
  6. Syntheses of retipolide E and ornatipolide, 14-membered biaryl-ether macrolactones from mushrooms
  7. Unternehmensführung mit SAP BI
  8. Prävention — Zauberformel oder Irrweg für die Kooperation?
  9. Microphones, not megaphones
  10. Forschung für die Nachhaltigkeit
  11. Historical family structure as a predictor of liberal voting
  12. Diagnostica
  13. Gender & Environment
  14. Agrifood Tourism, Rural Resilience, and Recovery in a Postdisaster Context: Insights and Evidence From Kaikoura-hurunui, New Zealand
  15. § 62 Bußgeldvorschriften
  16. Meanings of democracy
  17. Soziale Berufe
  18. Socio-demographic factors, entrepreneurial orientation, personal initiative, and environmental problems in Uganda
  19. International human resource management
  20. Virtuelles Ohr
  21. Alles unter Kontrolle?
  22. Crossroads of cloth
  23. Handbuch Biodiversitätsmanagement
  24. Das Publikum virtueller Welten
  25. (Voluntary) Health Care Management in SMEs
  26. Bekenntnis zum unfreiwilligen Zölibat
  27. Schätzen - Die Kunst des Messens ohne Messgerät
  28. Arts Management: A Sociological Inquiry
  29. Editorial
  30. A guide to training your own horses
  31. "Ah no honestly we’re okay"
  32. Nine Degrees of Uncertainty in Negotiations
  33. The difficulty to behave as a (regulated) natural monopolist
  34. What are community energy companies trying to accomplish? An empirical investigation of investment motives in the German case
  35. Vollendete Tatsachen
  36. Seasonal and Spatial Detection of Pesticide Residues Under Various Weather Conditions of Agricultural Areas of the Kilombero Valley Ramsar Site, Tanzania
  37. Ökologische verträgliche Mobilität oder Es ist angerichtet: ein utopisches Menue
  38. Erving Goffman: Social Embarrassment and Social Organization
  39. Entrepreneurship Training and Transfer
  40. Lurz, Robert W. Mindreading Animals, MIT Press, 2011
  41. Nachhaltige Entwicklung in der Hochschullehre
  42. Markenliebe bei Mitarbeitern