Handbook of Management Scales/Ability

Ability (alpha = 0.96/0.96)

Description

Three facets of trustworthiness were measured based on scales designed by Mayer/Davis (1999) to assess the ability, benevolence, and integrity of a supervisor. The Likert-type scale ranged from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

Definition

Ability reflects concepts such as competence, skills, efficiency, and dedication.

Items

• My supervisor is very capable of performing his/her job.
• My supervisor is known to be successful at the things s/he tries to do.
• My supervisor has a lot of knowledge about the work to be done.
• I feel very confident about my supervisor’s skills.
• My supervisor has specific capabilities that can increase our performance.
• My supervisor is well qualified.

Source

• Colquitt/Rodell (2011): Justice, trust, and trustworthiness: A longitudinal analysis integrating three theoretical perspectives. Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 54, No. 6, pp. 1183–1206

Comments

The mean value was above four. Given that a 5-point scale was used, future researchers could slightly adapt the items in order to shift the mean value to the center (e.g., “very successful” rather than “successful”).

Related Scales

• Benevolence
• Integrity