The Decent Work Questionnaire: Development and validation in two samples of knowledge workers

• Published date: 01 June 2018
• Date: 01 June 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/ilr.12039

International Labour Review, Vol. 157 (2018), No. 2

Copyright © The authors 2018

Journal compilation © International Labour Organization 2018

* Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Coimbra, Portugal, emails:

taniaferraro@gmail.com and leonorpais@fpce.uc.pt. ** School of Social Sciences, University of

Évora, Portugal, email: nrs@uevora.pt. *** Faculty of Psychology, University of Lisbon, Portugal,

email: joao.moreira@campus.ul.pt. This study was supported in part by a grant from the Coorde-

nação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), Ministry of Education of

Brazil, Brasilia, DF (Process Nº BEX 9703/13-6).

Responsibility for opinions expressed in signed articles rests solely with their authors, and

publication does not constitute an endorsement by the ILO.

The Decent Work Questionnaire:

Development and validation

in two samples of knowledge workers

Tânia FERRARO,* Leonor PAIS,* Nuno REBELO DOS SANTOS**

and João Manuel MOREIRA***

Abstract. This research develops a Decent Work Questionnaire (DWQ) to meas-

ure workers’ perceptions of decent work. Current measurements of decent work

are almost completely lacking at the individual worker level of analysis, and this

study contributes to lling the gap. The authors designed their DWQ based on

the substantive elements used by the ILO in its Decent Work Agenda, with the

nal 31-item version of the DWQ yielding seven factors related to decent work.

Showing good reliability coefcient values and good convergent and discriminant

validity, this DWQ could open up new avenues for empirical studies on the con-

cept of decent work.

This article reports on the development of a measurement of decent work

from the perspective of work, organizational and personnel psychology

(WOPP). The relevance of the work stems from the psychological approach

underlying its conceptualization and from its individual level of analysis based

on a worker’s perceptions of their work and professional context.

The decent work concept was proposed as a primary goal of the Inter-

national Labour Organization in 1999 (ILO, 1999). It has since been devel-

oped and become a focal point known as the Decent Work Agenda, with four

main values underlying the ILO’s actions: freedom, equity, security and human

dignity (ILO, 200 8a, p. 2). In turn, these values are expressed through four

strategic objectives: (1) standards and fundamental principles and rights at

work, (2) employment, (3) social protection, and (4) social dialogue (ILO, 1999,

2001 and 20 08b). Ultimately, these objectives could be conceived of as follows:

International Labour Review244

fundamental principles and rights are the preconditions of decent work;

employment or work of certain quality and social protection and security em-

body the content of decent work; and social dialogue is the “process whereby

it [decent work] can be achieved” (ILO, 2001, p. 59).

The four strategic objectives cover several concepts, or constructs, that

have been studied within the realm of WOPP, including unemployment, work–

life balance, career management, worker participation and compensation sys-

tems, to name but a few. More specically, research on unemployment has

shown that it has harmful effects on both mental health and social integration,

while highlighting its relevance to well-being and health (Dollard and Wine-

eld, 2002; Gowan, 2014; McKee-Ryan et al., 2005; Murphy and Athanasou,

1999; Paul and Moser, 2009; Wanberg, 2012; Wanberg, Kammeyer-Mueller and

Shi, 2001). Studies on work–life balance have pointed out the interdepend-

ence between work, personal life and family life and emphasized the various

ways in which these facets can reach synergies to reduce stress (Allen, 2013;

Byron, 2005; Eby et al., 2005; Greenhaus and Allen, 2011; Greenhaus and

Beutell, 1985; Greenhaus, Collins and Shaw, 20 03; Kossek, Baltes and Mat-

thews, 2011; Kossek and Ozeki, 1998 and 1999). Career management research

has revealed a change in career management and development practices, ac-

cording to which responsibilities have shifted from employers to employees,

thereby placing additional pressure on the latter, but also leading to more

autonomy and freedom (Baruch, 2006; Baruch and Rosenstein, 1992; Green-

haus, 2003; Greenhaus and Kossek, 2014; Sullivan and Baruch, 20 09). Worker

participation has been shown to have an impact on productivity (Doucou-

liagos, 1995), job satisfaction, commitment and trust in managers (Timming,

2012). However, results regarding the effects of participation are also some-

what paradoxical (ibid.) and show that further research is needed regarding

the best possible ways to congure worker participation. Finally, research has

also revealed that compensation systems have an impact on worker motiva-

tion and perceptions of fairness (Dulebohn and Werling, 2007; Gerhart and

Milkovich, 1992; Judge et al., 2010); in this respect, it should be recalled that

adequate earnings are one of the ILO’s substantive elements of decent work

(ILO, 200 8b, 2012, 2013a and 2013b).

Yet despite the research on the aforementioned constructs within the

eld of WOPP, decent work as an integrative concept remains almost com-

pletely absent from the domain of psychology. This study attempts to contrib-

ute to lling that gap.

After this introduction, the article continues with a discussion of the vari-

ous measurements of decent work that currently exist, highlighting the unique

contribution that can be made by adopting a psychological perspective. Sub-

sequently, we describe how the measurement instrument was developed, and

we report on its psychometric properties. The nal discussion points out the

strengths and weaknesses of both the approach and the proposed measure-

ment and explains how the proposed measurement is related to those that al-

ready exist. The practical implications and new directions for future research

are also discussed.