Developing and investigating the use of single-item measures in organizational research

Journal of Occupational Health Psychology

Volumn 21, Issue 1, 2016, Pages 3-23

  Fisher, Gwenith G ^a   Matthews, Russell A ^b   Gibbons, Alyssa Mitchell ^a  

^a Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences   (United States)

^b BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Occupational health; Single item measures; Survey measurement; Survey research methods; Work family conflict

Indexed keywords

ADULT; ARTICLE; CONTENT VALIDITY; CONTROLLED STUDY; CONVERGENT VALIDITY; DISCRIMINANT VALIDITY; FEMALE; HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH; HUMAN; INTERNAL CONSISTENCY; MALE; OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH; PRIORITY JOURNAL; PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECT; PSYCHOMETRY; TEST RETEST RELIABILITY; FAMILY CONFLICT; MEDICAL RESEARCH; MENTAL DISEASE; MIDDLE AGED; PROCEDURES; PSYCHOLOGY; QUESTIONNAIRE; REPRODUCIBILITY; VALIDATION STUDY; WORK SCHEDULE; WORKPLACE;

ADULT; BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH; FAMILY CONFLICT; FEMALE; HUMANS; MALE; MENTAL DISORDERS; MIDDLE AGED; PSYCHOMETRICS; REPRODUCIBILITY OF RESULTS; SURVEYS AND QUESTIONNAIRES; WORK SCHEDULE TOLERANCE; WORKPLACE;

EID: 84954141973     PISSN: 10768998     EISSN: 19391307     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1037/a0039139     Document Type: Article

References (78)

1. Alterman, T., Luckhaupt, S. E., Dahlhamer, J. M., Ward, B. W., Calvert, G. M. (2013). Job insecurity, work-family imbalance, and hostile work environment: Prevalence data from the 2010 National Health Interview Survey. American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 56, 660-669. http:// dx.doi.org/10.1002/ajim.22123
2. Atkinson, M. J., Lennox, R. D. (2006). Extending basic principles of measurement models to the design and validation of Patient Reported Outcomes. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 4, 65-77. http://dx.doi .org/10.1186/1477-7525-4-65
3. Bellavia, G. M., Frone, M. R. (2005). Work-family conflict. In J. Barling, E. K. Kelloway, M. R. Frone (Eds.), Handbook of work stress (pp. 113-147). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/ 9781412975995.n6
4. Blake, R. L., Jr., McKay, D. A. (1986). A single-item measure of social supports as a predictor of morbidity. The Journal of Family Practice, 22, 82-84.
5. Brown, T. A. (2006). Confirmatory factor analysis for applied research. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
6. Burisch, M. (1984). Approaches to personality inventory construction: A comparison of merits. American Psychologist, 39, 214-227. http://dx .doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.39.3.214
7. Byron, K. (2005). A meta-analytic review of work-family conflict and its antecedents. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 67, 169-198. http://dx.doi .org/10.1016/j.jvb.2004.08.009
8. Cammann, C., Fichman, M., Jenkins, G. D., Klesh, J. (1983). Michigan Organizational Assessment Questionnaire. In S. E. Seashore, E. E. Lawler, P. H. Mirvis, C. Cammann (Eds.), Assessing organizational change: A guide to methods, measures, and practices (pp. 71-138). New York, NY: Wiley-Interscience.
9. Campbell, D. T., Fiske, D. W. (1959). Convergent and discriminant validation by the multitrait-multimethod matrix. Psychological Bulletin, 56, 81-105. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0046016
10. Carlson, D. S., Grzywacz, J. G., Zivnuska, S. (2009). Is work-family balance more than conflict and enrichment? Human Relations, 62, 1459-1486. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0018726709336500
11. Casper, W. J., Eby, L. T., Bordeaux, C., Lockwood, A., Lambert, D. (2007). A review of research methods in IO/OB work-family research. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 28-43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ 0021-9010.92.1.28
12. Clark, L. A., Watson, D. (1995). Constructing validity: Basic issues in objective scale development. Psychological Assessment, 7, 309-319. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/1040-3590.7.3.309
13. Cortina, J. M. (1993). What is coefficient alpha? An examination of theory and applications. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 98-104. http://dx .doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.78.1.98
14. Crawford, S. D., Couper, M. P., Lamias, M. J. (2001). Web surveys: Perception of burden. Social Science Computer Review, 19, 146-162. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/089443930101900202
15. Cronbach, L. J., Meehl, P. E. (1955). Construct validity in psychological tests. Psychological Bulletin, 52, 281-302. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ h0040957
16. DeSalvo, K. B., Bloser, N., Reynolds, K., He, J., Muntner, P. (2006). Mortality prediction with a single general self-rated health question. A meta-analysis. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 21, 267-275. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1525-1497.2005.00291.x
17. Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 71- 75. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa4901_13
18. Eby, L. T., Casper, W. J., Lockwood, A., Bordeaux, C., Brinley, A. (2005). Work and family research in IOOB: Content analysis and review of the literature (1980 -2002). Journal of Vocational Behavior, 66, 124-197. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2003.11.003
19. Eisenberger, R., Stinglhamber, F., Vandenberghe, C., Sucharski, I. L., Rhoades, L. (2002). Perceived supervisor support: Contributions to perceived organizational support and employee retention. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 565-573. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010 .87.3.565
20. Elo, A. L., Leppänen, A., Jahkola, A. (2003). Validity of a single-item measure of stress symptoms. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment Health, 29, 444-451. http://dx.doi.org/10.5271/sjweh.752
21. Fahrenberg, J. (2006). Self-reported subjective state-Single-item or scales like AD-ACL and PANAS? Retrieved from http://www.jochen-fahrenberg .de/uploads/media/Self_report_of_Subjective_State_01.pdf
22. Fleeson, W. (2001). Toward a structure- and process-integrated view of personality: Traits as density distribution of states. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 1011-1027. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ 0022-3514.80.6.1011
23. Ford, M. T., Matthews, R. A., Wooldridge, J. D., Mishra, V., Kakar, U. M., Strahan, S. R. (2014). How do occupational stressor-strain effects vary with time? A review and meta-analysis of the relevance of time lags in longitudinal studies. Work and Stress, 28, 9-30. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1080/02678373.2013.877096
24. Fu, Y. C. (2005). Measuring personal networks with daily contacts: A single-item survey question and the contact diary. Social Networks, 27, 169-186. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2005.01.008
25. Fuchs, C., Diamantopoulos, A. (2009). Using single item measures for construct measurement in management research. Die Betriebswirtschaft, 69, 195-210.
26. Fuller, J. A., Stanton, J. M., Fisher, G. G., Spitzmuller, C., Russell, S. S., Smith, P. C. (2003). A lengthy look at the daily grind: Time series analysis of events, mood, stress, and satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88, 1019-1033. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.88.6 .1019
27. Gardner, D. G., Cummings, L. L., Dunham, R. B., Pierce, J. L. (1998). Single-item versus multiple-item measurement scales: An empirical comparison. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 58, 898- 915. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0013164498058006003
28. Gonzalez-Morales, M. G., Tetrick, L. E., Ginter, R. (2013). Measurement issues in work-family research. In R. R. Sinclair, M. Wang, L. E. Tetrick (Eds.), Research methods in occupational health psychology: Measurement, design, and data analysis (pp. 31-48). New York, NY: Routledge.
29. Gosling, S. D., Rentfrow, P. J., Swann, W. B., Jr. (2003). A very brief measure of the Big-Five personality domains. Journal of Research in Personality, 37, 504 -528. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0092- 6566(03)00046-1
30. Grandey, A. A., Cordeiro, B. L., Michael, J. H. (2007). Work-family supportiveness organizational perceptions: Important for the well-being of male blue-collar hourly workers? Journal of Vocational Behavior, 71, 460-478. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2007.08.001
31. Greenhaus, J. H., Allen, T. D. (2011). Work-family balance: A review and extension of the literature. In J. C. Quick L. E. Tetrick (Eds.), Handbook of occupational health psychology (2nd ed., pp. 165-183). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
32. Greenhaus, J. H., Beutell, N. J. (1985). Sources of conflict between work and family roles. The Academy of Management Review, 10, 76-88.
33. Groves, R. M. (2004). Survey errors and survey costs. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
34. Haynes, C. E., Wall, T. D., Bolden, R. I., Stride, C., Rick, J. E. (1999). Measures of perceived work characteristics for health services research: Test of a measurement model and normative data. British Journal of Health Psychology, 4, 257-275. http://dx.doi.org/10.1348/ 135910799168614
35. Hinkin, T. R. (1995). A review of scale development practices in the study of organizations. Journal of Management, 21, 967-988. http://dx.doi .org/10.1177/014920639502100509
36. Huffman, A. H., Youngcourt, S. S., Payne, S. C., Castro, C. A. (2008). The importance of construct breadth when examining inter-role conflict. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 68, 515-530. http://dx.doi .org/10.1177/0013164407308472
37. Idler, E. L., Benyamini, Y. (1997). Self-rated health and mortality: A review of twenty-seven community studies. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 38, 21-37. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2955359
38. James, L., Gent, M., Hater, J., Corey, K. (1979). Correlates of psychology influence: An illustration of the psychological climate approach to work environment. Personnel Psychology, 32, 563-588. http://dx.doi .org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.1979.tb02154.x
39. Kenny, D. A., McCoach, D. B. (2003). Effect of the number of variables on measures of fit in structural equation modeling. Structural Equation Modeling, 10, 333-351. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/S15328007SEM1003_1
40. Kline, R. B. (1998). Principles and practices of structural equation modeling. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
41. Klumb, P., Elfering, A., Herre, C. (2009). Ambulatory assessment in I/O Psychology: Fruitful examples and methodological issues. European Psychologist, 14, 120-131. http://dx.doi.org/10.1027/1016-9040.14.2 .120
42. Kossek, E. E., Baltes, B. B., Matthews, R. A. (2011). How work-family research can finally have an impact in organizations. Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, 4, 352-369. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1754-9434.2011.01353.x
43. Loo, R. (2002). A caveat on using single-item versus multiple-item scales. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 17, 68 -75. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1108/02683940210415933
44. MacDermid, S. M. (2005). (Re)considering conflict between work and family. In E. E. Kossek S. Lambert (Eds.), Work and life integration in organizations: Organizational, cultural, and individual perspectives (pp. 19-40). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
45. Matthews, R. A., Bulger, C. A., Barnes-Farrell, J. L. (2010). Work social supports, role stressors, and work-family conflict: The moderating effect of age. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 76, 78-90. http://dx.doi.org/10 .1016/j.jvb.2009.06.011
46. Matthews, R. A., Del Priore, R. E., Acitelli, L. K., Barnes-Farrell, J. L. (2006). Work-to-relationship conflict: Crossover effects in dual-earner couples. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 11, 228-240.
47. Matthews, R. A., Kath, L. M., Barnes-Farrell, J. L. (2010). A short, valid, predictive measure of work-family conflict: Item selection and scale validation. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 15, 75-90. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0017443
48. Matthews, R. A., Swody, C. A., Barnes-Farrell, J. L. (2012). Work hours and work-family conflict: The double-edged sword of involvement in work and family. Stress and Health, 28, 234-247. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1002/smi.1431
49. Matthews, R. A., Wayne, J. H., Ford, M. T. (2014). A work-family conflict/subjective well-being process model: A test of competing theories of longitudinal effects. Journal of Applied Psychology, 99, 1173- 1187. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0036674
50. Mauthner, M. (1997). Methodological aspects of collecting data from children: Lessons from three research projects. Children Society, 11, 16-28. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1099-0860.1997.tb00003.x
51. McDonald, R. P. (1999). Test theory: A unified approach. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
52. Messick, S. (1995). Validity of psychological assessment: Validation of inferences from persons' responses and performances as scientific inquiry into score meaning. American Psychologist, 50, 741-749. http:// dx.doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.50.9.741
53. Metz, S. M., Wyrwich, K. W., Babu, A. N., Kroenke, K., Tierney, W. M., Wolinsky, F. D. (2007). Validity of patient-reported health-related quality of life global ratings of change using structural equation modeling. Quality of Life Research, 16, 1193-1202. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1007/s11136-007-9225-1
54. Molarius, A., Janson, S. (2002). Self-rated health, chronic diseases, and symptoms among middle-aged and elderly men and women. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 55, 364-370. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0895- 4356(01)00491-7
55. Nagy, M. S. (2002). Using a single-item approach to measure facet job satisfaction. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 75, 77-86. http://dx.doi.org/10.1348/096317902167658
56. Nunnally, J. C., Bernstein, I. H. (1978). Psychometric theory (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
57. Parasuraman, S., Greenhaus, J. H. (2002). Toward reducing some critical gaps in work-family research. Human Resource Management Review, 12, 299-312. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1053-4822(02)00062-1
58. Radloff, L. S. (1977). The CES-D scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1, 385-401. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/014662167700100306
59. Raykov, T., Marcoulides, G. A. (2011). Introduction to psychometric theory. New York, NY: Taylor Francis.
60. Rizzo, J. R., House, R. J., Lirtzman, S. I. (1970). Role conflict and ambiguity in complex organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly, 15, 150-163. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2391486
61. Robins, R. W., Hendin, H. M., Trzesniewski, K. H. (2001). Measuring global self-esteem: Construct validation of a single-item measure and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 151-161. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0146167201272002
62. Rogelberg, S. G., Stanton, J. M. (2007). Introduction: Understanding and dealing with organizational survey nonresponse. Organizational Research Methods, 10, 195-209. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/ 1094428106294693
63. Sawyer, A. L., Bradshaw, C. P., O'Brennan, L. M. (2008). Examining ethnic, gender, and developmental differences in the way children report being a victim of "bullying" on self-report measures. Journal of Adolescent Health, 43, 106-114. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2007 .12.011
64. Scarpello, V., Campbell, J. P. (1983). Job satisfaction: Are all the parts there? Personnel Psychology, 36, 577-600. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j .1744-6570.1983.tb02236.x
65. Schmidt, F. L., Hunter, J. E. (2014). Methods of meta-analysis: Correcting error and bias in research findings. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
66. Schmitt, N. (1994). Method bias: The importance of theory and measurement. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 15, 393-398. http://dx.doi .org/10.1002/job.4030150504
67. Schriesheim, C. A., Hinkin, T. R., Podsakoff, P. M. (1991). Can ipsative and single-item measures produce erroneous results in field studies of French and Raven's (1959) five bases of power? An empirical investigation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 76, 106-114. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1037/0021-9010.76.1.106
68. Shirom, A., Melamed, S. (2006). A comparison of the construct validity of two burnout measures in two groups of professionals. International Journal of Stress Management, 13, 176-200. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ 1072-5245.13.2.176
69. Stanton, J. M., Sinar, E. F., Balzer, W. K., Smith, P. C. (2002). Issues and strategies for reducing the length of self-report scales. Personnel Psychology, 55, 167-194. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2002 .tb00108.x
70. Steffick, D. E. (2000). Documentation of affective functioning measures in the Health and Retirement Study. Documentation Report DR-005. Ann Arbor, MI: Survey Research Center, University of Michigan.
71. Steiger, J. H. (1980). Tests for comparing elements of a correlation matrix. Psychological Bulletin, 87, 245-251. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033- 2909.87.2.245
72. Sverke, M., Hellgren, J., Näswall, K. (2002). No security: A metaanalysis and review of job insecurity and its consequences. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 7, 242-264. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ 1076-8998.7.3.242
73. Tetrick, L. E., Buffardi, L. C. (2006). Measurement issues in research on the work-home interface. In F. Jones, R. J. Burke, M. Westman (Eds.), Work-life balance: A psychological perspective (pp. 90-114). New York, NY: Psychological Press.
74. Voydanoff, P. (2007). Work, family, and community: Exploring interconnections. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
75. Wanous, J. P., Hudy, M. J. (2001). Single-item reliability: A replication and extension. Organizational Research Methods, 4, 361-375. http://dx .doi.org/10.1177/109442810144003
76. Wanous, J. P., Reichers, A. E., Hudy, M. J. (1997). Overall job satisfaction: How good are single-item measures? Journal of Applied Psychology, 82, 247-252. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.82.2.247
77. Winefield, H. R., Winefield, A. H., Tiggemann, M. (1992). Social support and psychological well-being in young adults: The multidimensional support scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 58, 198- 210. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa5801_17
78. Woods, S. A., Hampson, S. E. (2005). Measuring the big five with single items using a bipolar response scale. European Journal of Personality, 19, 373-390. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/per.542