Background. Public and scientific interest in the prolongation of work lives has grown due to the greying of societies. Increased work force participation of retirees could attenuate the consequences of the demographic change. Work ability has been found to be an important predictor of retirementbehavior. Its measurement is therefore of great interest to cope with these challenges. However, the quasi-standard measurement tool, the Work Ability Index (WAI) mainly focuses on physical health and personal capacity, not accounting for changed work demands of societies with a focus on the tertiary and quaternary economic sector. Additionally, due to its briefness, its interpretability is limited.
Therefore, the Work Ability Survey (WAS-R) was developed, integrating factors of the holistic model of work ability into the measurement of work ability.
Design. We translated the WAS-R into German and evaluated its psychometric properties and factor structure in three different samples, i.e., employed
university graduates of the German chemical branch (n = 1,093), employees of an insurance company (n = 359), and a mixed sample (n = 458). Additional measures concerning, e.g., work ability, job satisfaction, and work centrality were provided to evaluate construct validity.
Results. Internal consistency of the subscales of the WAS-R ranged from .58 to .94. A partial least squares path model supported the structural model of the WAS-R. Significant correlations were found with, e.g., job satisfaction and desired retirement age.
Limitations. Only cross-sectional data was available for this study. Theoretical/Practical implications. The WAS-R seems to have the potential to measure work ability. Its broad subscales account for changed work demands and allow the identification of critical circumstances. Further research is
needed to prove long-term validity of the results of the WAS-R. Relevance. The WAS-R improves the measurement of work ability by integrating the holistic
model of work ability into the measurement of work ability