DEVELOPMENT OF THE SURVEY OF WORK VALUES

A series of scales measuring attitudes toward work was developed. The Survey of Work Values (SWV) was based on a number of dimensions of Protestant Ethic, specifically those aspects that deal with the meaning that an individual attaches to his role at work. The content validity of the items was established by the reallocation method of scaling. Items were analyzed to determine the best method of scoring and to select items for the subscales according to the internal consistencies and independence of the subscales. Unweighted, multipoint scoring was selected for 54 items. SWV scores discriminated among occupational groups and correlated with background characteristics of employed and disadvantaged persons. The purpose of this research was to construct a set of scales measuring several areas of work values. The Survey of Work Values (SWV) is intended to be an index of a person's attitudes toward work in general, rather than his feelings about a specific job. The concept of work values, referring to general attitudes regarding the meaning that an individual attaches to his work role, therefore, differs from that of job satisfaction (an attitude toward one's own job). A few scales have been constructed for the purpose of measuring work values (StefHre, 1959; Super, 1957, 1962) and occupational values (Kilpatrick, Cummings, & Jennings, 1964; Rosenberg, 1957). Although these measures have been carefully developed, they seem to be extremely global. The SWV differs from previous scales3 in that it is directed toward separate areas of values and is limited to the construct of secularized Protestant Ethic with which work values seem to be closely linked. The principal aspects of Protestant Ethic as described by Weber (1958) are individualism, asceticism, and industriousness. The emphasis placed on a man's industriousness probably represents the most critical aspect of Protes