A Brief Tutorial on the Development of Measures for Use in Survey Questionnaires
Abstract
The adequate measurement of abstract constructs is perhaps the greatest challenge to understanding the behavior of people in organizations. Problems with the reliability and validity of measures used on survey questionnaires continue to lead to difficulties in interpreting the results of field research. Price and Mueller suggest that measurement problems may be due to the lack of a well-established framework to guide researchers through the various stages of scale development. This article provides a conceptual framework and a straightforward guide for the development of scales in accordance with established psychometric principles for use infield studies
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The study followed widely accepted methodological guidelines and frameworks.
“In doing so, we followed widely accepted methodological guidelines and frameworks ( Churchill 1979; De Vellis 2003; Hinkin 1998; MacKenzie et al. 2011).”
From Trust in the Sharing Economy (2016) · cites this paper as Hinkin 1998
Cites
Convergent and discriminant validation by the multitrait-multimethod matrix.
Campbell, D. T., & Fiske, D. W. (1959) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/h0046016 · Cited by 17,116 · see citing works
A Paradigm for Developing Better Measures of Marketing Constructs
Churchill, G. A. (1979) · Journal of Marketing Research · doi:10.1177/002224377901600110 · Cited by 16,549 · see citing works
Construct validity in psychological tests.
Cronbach, L. J., & Meehl, P. E. (1955) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/h0040957 · Cited by 11,195 · see citing works
What is coefficient alpha? An examination of theory and applications
Cortina, J. M. (1993) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-9010.78.1.98 · Cited by 8,810 · cited 4× · see citing works
“Cortina (1993) found that scales with many items may have high internal consistency reliabilities even if item intercorrelations are low, an argument in favor of shorter scales with high internal consistency.”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialReliability and Validity Assessment
Carmines, E., & Zeller, R. (1979) · doi:10.4135/9781412985642 · Cited by 5,884 · see citing works
A Review of Scale Development Practices in the Study of Organizations
Hinkin, T. R. (1995) · Journal of Management · doi:10.1177/014920639502100509 · Cited by 3,193 · see citing works
Self-citationThe Analysis of Covariance Structures: Goodness-of-Fit Indices
HOELTER, J. W. (1983) · Sociological Methods & Research · doi:10.1177/0049124183011003003 · Cited by 1,624 · see citing works
MacKenzie, S. B., Podsakoff, P. M., & Fetter, R. (1991) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1016/0749-5978(91)90037-t · Cited by 807 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Vandenberg, R. J., & Lance, C. E. (2000) · Organizational Research Methods · doi:10.1177/109442810031002 · Cited by 7,997 · see citing works
Ethical leadership: A social learning perspective for construct development and testing
Brown, M. E., Treviño, L. K., & Harrison, D. A. (2005) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2005.03.002 · Cited by 5,435 · see citing works
Identifying careless responses in survey data.
Meade, A. W., & Craig, S. B. (2012) · Psychological Methods · doi:10.1037/a0028085 · Cited by 3,865 · see citing works
Psychometric assessment of three newly developed implementation outcome measures
Weiner, B. J., Lewis, C. C., Stanick, C., Powell, B. J., Dorsey, C. N., Clary, A. S., Boynton, M. H., & Halko, H. (2017) · Implementation Science · doi:10.1186/s13012-017-0635-3 · Cited by 2,819 · see citing works
Cheung, G. W., Cooper-Thomas, H. D., Lau, R. S., & Wang, L. C. (2024) · Asia Pacific Journal of Management · doi:10.1007/s10490-023-09871-y · Cited by 2,262 · see citing works
“For best-practice recommendations for scale development research, readers are referred to Cortina et al. (2020), Hinkin (1998), and Lambert and Newman (2022).”
Behavioral Ethics in Organizations: A Review
Treviño, L. K., Weaver, G. R., & Reynolds, S. J. (2006) · Journal of Management · doi:10.1177/0149206306294258 · Cited by 1,837 · see citing works
Servant Leadership: A systematic review and call for future research
Eva, N., Robin, M., Sendjaya, S., van Dierendonck, D., & Liden, R. C. (2019) · The Leadership Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2018.07.004 · Cited by 1,858 · see citing works
“To that end, we set out to trace the development and validation process of each measure, and subsequently examine the psychometric validity of each measure against state of the art scale development criteria and parameters set by scale development experts (e.g. DeVellis, 2017; Hinkin, 1995, 1998).”
MethodTsang, S., Royse, C., & Terkawi, A. (2017) · Saudi Journal of Anaesthesia · doi:10.4103/sja.sja_203_17 · Cited by 1,692 · see citing works
The multidimensional assessment of interoceptive awareness (MAIA)
Mehling, W. E., Price, C., Daubenmier, J. J., Acree, M., Bartmess, E., & Stewart, A. (2012) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0048230 · Cited by 1,429 · see citing works
A Review of Self-Determination Theory’s Basic Psychological Needs at Work
Van den Broeck, A., Ferris, D. L., Chang, C.-H., & Rosen, C. C. (2016) · Journal of Management · doi:10.1177/0149206316632058 · Cited by 1,465 · see citing works
Howard, M. C. (2016) · International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1080/10447318.2015.1087664 · Cited by 1,349 · see citing works
Van den Broeck, A., Vansteenkiste, M., De Witte, H., Soenens, B., & Lens, W. (2010) · Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology · doi:10.1348/096317909x481382 · Cited by 1,305 · see citing works
Bjureberg, J., Ljótsson, B., Tull, M. T., Hedman, E., Sahlin, H., Lundh, L.-G., Bjärehed, J., DiLillo, D., Messman-Moore, T., Gumpert, C. H., et al. (2016) · Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment · doi:10.1007/s10862-015-9514-x · Cited by 1,081 · see citing works
“for scale development in general and the development of short forms of scales in particular (Hinkin 1998; Smith et al. 2000), we used independent samples for scale development and evaluation, as well as independent administrations of the short version and original version of the DERS.”
MethodWang, B., Rau, P.-L. P., & Yuan, T. (2023) · Behaviour & Information Technology · doi:10.1080/0144929x.2022.2072768 · Cited by 1,036 · see citing works
Psychological Ownership: Theoretical Extensions, Measurement, and Relation to Work Outcomes
Avey, J. B., Avolio, B. J., Crossley, C. D., & Luthans, F. (2009) · Journal of Organizational Behavior · doi:10.1002/job.583 · Cited by 920 · see citing works
A Measure of College Student Course Engagement
Handelsman, M. M., Briggs, W. L., Sullivan, N., & Towler, A. (2005) · The Journal of Educational Research · doi:10.3200/joer.98.3.184-192 · Cited by 857 · see citing works
Kalshoven, K., Den Hartog, D. N., & De Hoogh, A. H. B. (2011) · The Leadership Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2010.12.007 · Cited by 824 · see citing works
A comparative study of cb-sem and pls-sem for theory development in family firm research
Astrachan, C. B., Patel, V. K., & Wanzenried, G. (2014) · Journal of Family Business Strategy · doi:10.1016/j.jfbs.2013.12.002 · Cited by 766 · see citing works
A comparison of the construct validity of two burnout measures in two groups of professionals.
Shirom, A., & Melamed, S. (2006) · International Journal of Stress Management · doi:10.1037/1072-5245.13.2.176 · Cited by 763 · see citing works
Employee cynicism and resistance to organizational change
Stanley, D. J., Meyer, J. P., & Topolnytsky, L. (2005) · Journal of Business and Psychology · doi:10.1007/s10869-005-4518-2 · Cited by 574 · see citing works
Chamberlin, M., Newton, D. W., & Lepine, J. A. (2017) · Personnel Psychology · doi:10.1111/peps.12185 · Cited by 532 · see citing works
Please respond ASAP: Workplace telepressure and employee recovery
Barber, L. K., & Santuzzi, A. M. (2015) · Journal of Occupational Health Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0038278 · Cited by 502 · see citing works
Abbas, M., Jam, F. A., & Khan, T. I. (2024) · International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education · doi:10.1186/s41239-024-00444-7 · Cited by 531 · see citing works
“Item generation: We used scale development procedures proposed in prior research (Hinkin, 1998).”
MethodFast, N. J., Burris, E. R., & Bartel, C. A. (2014) · Academy of Management Journal · doi:10.5465/amj.2012.0393 · Cited by 440 · see citing works
Antonakis, J., & House, R. J. (2014) · The Leadership Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2014.04.005 · Cited by 440 · see citing works
Day, A., Paquet, S., Scott, N., & Hambley, L. (2012) · Journal of Occupational Health Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0029837 · Cited by 436 · see citing works
Organizational Change Recipients' Beliefs Scale: Development of an Assessment Instrument
Armenakis, A. A., Bernerth, J. B., Pitts, J. P., & Walker, H. J. (2007) · The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science · doi:10.1177/0021886307303654 · Cited by 386 · see citing works
Shaffer, J. A., DeGeest, D., & Li, A. (2016) · Organizational Research Methods · doi:10.1177/1094428115598239 · Cited by 393 · see citing works
Caprara, G. V., Alessandri, G., Eisenberg, N., Kupfer, A., Steca, P., Caprara, M. G., Yamaguchi, S., Fukuzawa, A., & Abela, J. (2012) · Psychological Assessment · doi:10.1037/a0026681 · Cited by 393 · see citing works
Family and Academic Stress and Their Impact on Students' Depression Level and Academic Performance
Deng, Y., Cherian, J., Khan, N. U. N., Kumari, K., Sial, M. S., Comite, U., Gavurova, B., & Popp, J. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.869337 · Cited by 371 · see citing works
Third parties’ reactions to the abusive supervision of coworkers
Mitchell, M. S., Vogel, R. M., & Folger, R. (2015) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/apl0000002 · Cited by 337 · see citing works
An Ounce of Prevention Is Worth a Pound of Cure: Improving Research Quality Before Data Collection
Aguinis, H., & Vandenberg, R. J. (2014) · Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior · doi:10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-031413-091231 · Cited by 304 · see citing works
Kuenzi, M., Mayer, D. M., & Greenbaum, R. L. (2020) · Personnel Psychology · doi:10.1111/peps.12356 · Cited by 300 · see citing works
Five-factor model personality traits as predictors of perceived and actual usage of technology
Barnett, T., Pearson, A. W., Pearson, R., & Kellermanns, F. W. (2015) · European Journal of Information Systems · doi:10.1057/ejis.2014.10 · Cited by 281 · see citing works
Leader–member social exchange (LMSX): Development and validation of a scale
Bernerth, J. B., Armenakis, A. A., Feild, H. S., Giles, W. F., & Walker, H. J. (2007) · Journal of Organizational Behavior · doi:10.1002/job.443 · Cited by 254 · see citing works
Backshoring strategy and the adoption of Industry 4.0: Evidence from Europe
Ancarani, A., Di Mauro, C., & Mascali, F. (2019) · Journal of World Business · doi:10.1016/j.jwb.2019.04.003 · Cited by 248 · see citing works
Working on my own: Measuring the challenges of gig work
Caza, B. B., Reid, E. M., Ashford, S. J., & Granger, S. (2022) · Human Relations · doi:10.1177/00187267211030098 · Cited by 249 · see citing works
Development and Psychometric Properties of the Sussex-Oxford Compassion Scales (SOCS)
Gu, J., Baer, R., Cavanagh, K., Kuyken, W., & Strauss, C. (2020) · Assessment · doi:10.1177/1073191119860911 · Cited by 238 · see citing works
“…length, validating factor structures in independent samples to confirm a prespecified model for the measures, and assessing other psychometric properties, such as internal consistency and convergent and discriminant validity (e.g., Byrne, 2005; Costello & Osborne, 2005; Furr, 2011; Hinkin, 1998).”
BackgroundFour-quadrant investigation of job-related affects and behaviours
Warr, P., Bindl, U. K., Parker, S. K., & Inceoglu, I. (2014) · European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology · doi:10.1080/1359432x.2012.744449 · Cited by 245 · see citing works
Instrumentation issues in implementation science
Martinez, R. G., Lewis, C. C., & Weiner, B. J. (2014) · Implementation Science · doi:10.1186/s13012-014-0118-8 · Cited by 243 · see citing works
Examining the Impact of Algorithmic Control on Uber Drivers’ Technostress
Cram, W. A., Wiener, M., Tarafdar, M., & Benlian, A. (2022) · Journal of Management Information Systems · doi:10.1080/07421222.2022.2063556 · Cited by 246 · see citing works
Benlian, A., Hilkert, D., & Hess, T. (2015) · Journal of Information Technology · doi:10.1057/jit.2015.6 · Cited by 212 · see citing works
Hawlitschek, F., Teubner, T., & Weinhardt, C. (2016) · Die Unternehmung · doi:10.5771/0042-059x-2016-1-26 · Cited by 217 · see citing works
Narayanan, S., Jayaraman, V., Luo, Y., & Swaminathan, J. M. (2011) · Journal of Operations Management · doi:10.1016/j.jom.2010.05.001 · Cited by 202 · see citing works
Humble leadership: A review and synthesis of leader expressed humility
Kelemen, T. K., Matthews, S. H., Matthews, M. J., & Henry, S. E. (2023) · Journal of Organizational Behavior · doi:10.1002/job.2608 · Cited by 203 · see citing works
Zhang, X.-A., Cao, Q., & Grigoriou, N. (2011) · The Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1080/00224540903366669 · Cited by 191 · see citing works
Kohnke, A., Cole, M. L., & Bush, R. (2014) · Journal of technology management & innovation · doi:10.4067/s0718-27242014000200003 · Cited by 181 · see citing works
Change fatigue: Development and initial validation of a new measure
Bernerth, J. B., Walker, H. J., & Harris, S. G. (2011) · Work & Stress · doi:10.1080/02678373.2011.634280 · Cited by 183 · see citing works
Epistemic beliefs’ role in promoting misperceptions and conspiracist ideation
Garrett, R. K., & Weeks, B. E. (2017) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0184733 · Cited by 167 · see citing works
Habib, M., Abbas, J., & Noman, R. (2019) · International Journal of Social Economics · doi:10.1108/ijse-09-2018-0472 · Cited by 170 · see citing works
Advancing implementation science through measure development and evaluation: a study protocol
Lewis, C. C., Weiner, B. J., Stanick, C., & Fischer, S. M. (2015) · Implementation Science · doi:10.1186/s13012-015-0287-0 · Cited by 115 · see citing works
Duty orientation: Theoretical development and preliminary construct testing
Hannah, S. T., Jennings, P. L., Bluhm, D., Peng, A. C., & Schaubroeck, J. M. (2014) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2013.10.007 · Cited by 117 · see citing works
Development of an Instrument to Measure Professionalism
Chisholm, M. A., Cobb, H., Duke, L., McDuffie, C., & Kennedy, W. K. (2006) · American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education · doi:10.5688/aj700485 · Cited by 117 · see citing works
Validation of a Multidimensional HR Flexibility Measure
Way, S. A., Tracey, J. B., Fay, C. H., Wright, P. M., Snell, S. A., Chang, S., & Gong, Y. (2015) · Journal of Management · doi:10.1177/0149206312463940 · Cited by 114 · see citing works
Preliminary validation of an ultra‐brief version of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire
Berle, D., Starcevic, V., Moses, K., Hannan, A., Milicevic, D., & Sammut, P. (2011) · Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy · doi:10.1002/cpp.724 · Cited by 112 · see citing works
Pirson, M. A., Langer, E., & Zilcha, S. (2018) · Journal of Adult Development · doi:10.1007/s10804-018-9282-4 · Cited by 106 · see citing works
Liou, S., Liu, H., Tsai, H., Tsai, Y., Lin, Y., Chang, C., & Cheng, C. (2016) · Journal of Advanced Nursing · doi:10.1111/jan.12831 · Cited by 104 · see citing works
Aubé, C., Rousseau, V., Mama, C., & Morin, E. M. (2009) · Journal of Business and Psychology · doi:10.1007/s10869-009-9113-5 · Cited by 94 · see citing works
Alqassab, M., Strijbos, J.-W., & Ufer, S. (2018) · European Journal of Psychology of Education · doi:10.1007/s10212-017-0342-0 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
Kelders, S. M., Kip, H., & Greeff, J. (2020) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/17757 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
Sillence, E., Blythe, J. M., Briggs, P., & Moss, M. (2019) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/11125 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
McKee, K. M., Dahl, A. J., & Peltier, J. W. (2024) · Journal of Consumer Behaviour · doi:10.1002/cb.2199 · Cited by 75 · see citing works
Instructable Intelligent Personal Agent
Azaria, A., Krishnamurthy, J., & Mitchell, T. (2016) · Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence · doi:10.1609/aaai.v30i1.10357 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Becker, W. J., Belkin, L. Y., Conroy, S. A., & Tuskey, S. (2021) · Journal of Management · doi:10.1177/0149206319890655 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
“In keeping with the guidance of Hinkin (1998), we first ran exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of the OEEM items with the related electronic communications measure items using only Sample 1 using SPSS Version 26.”
MethodLiu, M., Zhang, L. J., & Zhang, D. (2025) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2025.108569 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Job seekers' attitudes toward cybervetting: Scale development, validation, and platform comparison
Cook, R., Jones‐Chick, R., Roulin, N., & O'Rourke, K. (2020) · International Journal of Selection and Assessment · doi:10.1111/ijsa.12300 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Han, J. H., Liao, H., Han, J., & Li, A. N. (2021) · Personnel Psychology · doi:10.1111/peps.12415 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Xia, L., Shen, K., Sun, H., An, X., & Dong, Y. (2025) · Education and Information Technologies · doi:10.1007/s10639-024-13137-5 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Abunyewah, M., Okyere, S. A., Opoku Mensah, S., Erdiaw-Kwasie, M., Gajendran, T., & Byrne, M. K. (2024) · Environmental Development · doi:10.1016/j.envdev.2023.100960 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Cyber neutralisation and flaming
Hwang, J., Lee, H., Kim, K., Zo, H., & Ciganek, A. P. (2016) · Behaviour & Information Technology · doi:10.1080/0144929x.2015.1135191 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Safdar, B., Habib, A., Amjad, A., & Abbas, J. (2020) · International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development · doi:10.6007/ijarped/v9-i4/8458 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Developing and validating an instrument for measuring managers’ attitudes toward older workers
Rego, A., Vitória, A., Cunha, M. P. E., Tupinambá, A., & Leal, S. (2017) · The International Journal of Human Resource Management · doi:10.1080/09585192.2015.1128462 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Chisholm-Burns, M. A., Spivey, C. A., Jaeger, M. C., Williams, J., & George, C. (2017) · American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education · doi:10.5688/ajpe81465 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Desselle, S. P., & Semsick, G. R. (2016) · American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education · doi:10.5688/ajpe8010168 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
AI Literacy in Higher Education: A Systematic Approach to Questionnaire Development and Validation
Ranieri, M., Biagini, G., & Cuomo, S. (2025) · International Journal of Digital Literacy and Digital Competence · doi:10.4018/ijdldc.388469 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
A value-based view of the smart PSS adoption: a study of smart kitchen appliances
Yu, Y., & Sung, T.-J. (2023) · Service Business · doi:10.1007/s11628-023-00529-9 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Lewis, C. M., Gamboa-Maldonado, T., Belliard, J. C., Nelson, A., & Montgomery, S. (2019) · Journal of Ambulatory Care Management · doi:10.1097/jac.0000000000000261 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Makecha, R. N., Phalke, S., & Nakai, Y. (2022) · Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science · doi:10.1080/10888705.2021.1902812 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Tosun Altınöz, Ş., Doğan, U., Ercan Altınöz, A., & Üzmez, H. (2024) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1007/s10608-023-10450-0 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
- Authors
- Hinkin, T. R.
- Affiliations
- Cornell University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Hinkin, Timothy R.
- Venue
- Organizational Research Methods
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 1998-01
- Volume
- 1
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 104-121
- ISSN
- 1094-4281 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-7425
- OpenAlex
- W2096812562
- Cited by
- 4,095
- References
- 8
- Citations by year
- 2026: 429 · 2025: 355 · 2024: 318 · 2023: 293 · 2022: 348 · 2021: 296 · 2020: 293 · 2019: 263 · 2018: 210 · 2017: 168 · 2016: 164 · 2015: 154 · 2014: 154 · 2013: 118 · 2012: 134
- FWCI
- 17.71
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Organizational Research Methods (publishedVersion)
- Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- eCommons (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Survey Methodology and Nonresponse
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Business Strategies and Management Research
- Keywords
- scale development, questionnaire survey, reliability statistics, validity, conceptual framework, organizational behavior research
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review