Development and validation of a short form for the multidimensional work ethic profile

The multidimensional work ethic profile (MWEP) has become one of the most widely-used inventories for measuring the work ethic construct. However, its length has been a potential barrier to even more widespread use. We developed a short form of the MWEP, the MWEP-SF. A subset of items from the original measure was identified, using item response theory, such that the loss of test information was minimized. The measure was reduced from 65 to 28 items. The processes of parameter estimation, item selection, cross-validation, and comparisons with the full measure and other relevant constructs are presented and discussed. Although test information was reduced by the elimination of items, the relationships among MWEP-SF subscales and other variables in the MWEP-SF's nomological network were preserved. ► This study utilized item response theory to develop a short form for the multidimensional work ethic profile. ► Results indicated that the short form had comparable psychometric properties compared with the full version of the inventory. ► Cross-validation results revealed that the short form displayed expected relationships with theoretically-related variables.