Can We Improve the Assessment of Work Characteristics by Completely Contextualizing Items?

Abstract

Employee surveys are a cost-effective way to assess work-related stress, but their generic formulation often allows for broad interpretation. Research from personality assessment suggests that contextualizing survey items may enhance reliability and validity by narrowing this interpretive scope, especially when items are fully adapted to fit a specific context (“complete contextualization”). This study investigates whether these benefits also apply to assessing work characteristics, using a sample of 323 German medical assistants. Items from the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire were tailored to the medical practice context with expert input. Participants completed both generic and contextualized versions of the items in a counterbalanced order, with psychological strain as the criterion. The results showed some positive effects, as the contextualized versions partly explained more criterion variance. However, contextualization did not enhance reliability or participants’ reactions and led to longer items. Overall, complete contextualization may improve work characteristics assessments; however, further research is needed to evaluate its broader application.