The Ethics Safety Scale: Development and Validation

Abstract

The current study focuses on the development of an ethics assessment instrument. The proposed instrument is unique in that it is the first ethics’ perceptions assessment instrument designed to be applicable not only in an office environment, but in operative, labor-intensive work environments, as well. The manuscript includes a description of six studies used to create and validate an ethics perceptions assessment instrument appropriate for safety-sensitive environments. Study 1 includes a summary of a qualitative assessment of ethics perceptions from a diverse sample of 48 employees of a multi-national drilling corporation. Studies 2 and 3 examine the content adequacy and reliability of a quantitative instrument based on the results of Study 1. Study 4 includes an exploratory factor analysis of the scale, while studies 5 and 6 include confirmatory factor analyses of the new instrument, the Ethics Safety Scale. CFAs resulted in the Ethics Safety Scale (ESS) which includes 6 sub-scales measuring different aspects of employee ethics perceptions. The instrument and its sub-scales showed sound reliability and validity. Suggestions for future applications of the scale follow.