Reliability (Internal Consistency) of the Job Content Questionnaire on Job Stress Among Office Workers of a Multinational Company in Kuala Lumpur

• Published in: Asia-Pacific journal of public health 2009-04, Vol.21 (2), p.216-222
• Main Authors: Maizura, Husna, Masilamani, Retneswari, Aris, Tahir
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Humans; Malaysia - epidemiology; Male; Occupational Diseases - diagnosis; Original Papers; Reproducibility of Results; Social Support; Socioeconomic Factors; Stress, Psychological - diagnosis; Surveys and Questionnaires
• ISSN: 1010-5395; 1941-2479
• DOI: 10.1177/1010539509331981

This small, cross-sectional study assessed the reliability of 3 scales from the Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ)—decision latitude, psychological job demand, and social support—in a group of office workers in a multinational company in Kuala Lumpur. A universal sample of 30 white-collar workers from a department of the company self-administered the English version of the JCQ comprising 21 core items selected from the full recommended version of 49 items onsite. Reliability (internal consistency) was evaluated using Cronbach's α coefficients for each scale. Corrected item—total correlation was presented for each and every item. Cronbach's α coefficients were acceptable for decision latitude (.76) and social support (.79) but slightly lower for psychological job demand (.64). Values for all item—total correlations for all 3 scales were greater than .3. In conclusion, this study suggests that the JCQ is a reliable scale for assessing job stress in this group of workers.