Development of an australian work ethic scale

Abstract

A scale designed to tap adherence to the Protestant work ethic ideology in Australia has been developed. The development of the Australian Work Ethic scale (AWE) was based on items selected on the basis of factor analysis and item-total correlations. Validation of the scale found that it has convergent and concurrent validity. Specifically, it correlated highly with both the Mirels and Garrett (1971) Protestant work ethic scale and Blood's (1969) pro-Protestant ethic scale. It was also found that people who strongly endorsed the work ethic ideology as measured on the AWE scale, tended to stress internal causal explanations for unemployment, and were less willing to provide assistance to the unemployed, findings which are in line with the work ethic ideology. The findings were discussed in terms of the continued efficacy of the work ethic ideology in Australia. Possible uses of this new measure in future research are suggested.