A Revision of the Job Diagnostic Survey: Elimination of a Measurement Artifact

The dimensionality of the original Job Diagnostic Survey (JDS) and a revision were investigated. Factor analyses of two data sets identified six dimensions underlying the original JDS. Five of the factors correspond to the pattern expected for the JDS items; the sixth was identified as a measurement artifact. Five of the JDS items were subsequently rewritten to eliminate the artifact. The revised survey was administered to employees of a printing company (N = 134) and the a priori five-factor solution was obtained with no artifact factor. Scale-factor correlations were also computed. The resulting coefficients suggest that the revised JDS scales are measuring their underlying constructs with reasonable accuracy. As a result of the measurement artifact in the original JDS, it is recommended that the revised JDS should be used in future research concerned with task characteristics.