In the late 1990s, I comprehensively reviewed the work design literature, including all the currently existing measures of work design. This work was summarized in a chapter in the Handbook of psychology: Industrial and organizational psychology (Morgeson & Campion, 2003). One of the key observations I had was that there were distinct limitations in existing work design measures, including a lack of comprehensiveness, poor psychometric quality, and questions about construct validity.
Given this, in the early 2000's, Stephen Humphrey and I set out to develop and validate a comprehensive measure of work design. Drawing from the work design literature, we followed established taxonomic and psychometric guidelines to develop the Work Design Questionnaire (WDQ). The WDQ is a measure of 21 work characteristics grouped into four higher-order categories: Task, knowledge, social, and contextual. Since its publication (Morgeson & Humphrey, 2006), the WDQ has been one of the most highly cited articles in the Journal of Applied Psychology in 2006 (see below to download the original article).
One interesting outcome of this work is that the WDQ has begun to be translated into a number of different languages, getting us a little closer to a common language with which to describe work.
This website is devoted to making available (for research purposes only) the original version of the WDQ, along with the various translations of the measure. Listed below are the different versions of the WDQ, along with information about the measure, the individuals or teams who conducted the translation, and publications using the measure.
In the spirit of openness and creating a vibrant research community, it would be great if you could let me know if you are using any of these measures in your research and then sharing your results with me so I can, in turn, keep the research community abreast of the latest developments. Only by doing this can we understand and improve the world of work! In addition, if you have translated the WDQ into a language not listed here or have made improvements to any of the translated versions, please let me know. Thank you!
Frederick Morgeson, Ph.D.
Published Article Citation: Morgeson, F. P., & Humphrey, S. E. (2006). The Work Design Questionnaire (WDQ): Developing and validating a comprehensive measure for assessing job design and the nature of work. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91, 1321-1339.
Click to download article
Click to download WDQ (survey instructions and measure items)
The translated versions in this section have been published and can be considered "final" versions unless otherwise noted.
Dutch
Translated by: Marjan Gorgievski, Patty Peeters, Eric Rietzschel, & Tanja BippPublished Article Citation: Gorgievski, M.J.; Peeters, P.; Rietzschel, E.F.; Bipp, T. (2016). Betrouwbaarheid en Validiteit van de Nederlandse vertaling van de Work Design Questionnaire. Gedrag en Organisatie, 29 (3), 273-301. Click to download the article detailing the translationClick to download the Dutch language version of the WDQ
Translated by: Marjan Gorgievski, Patty Peeters, Eric Rietzschel, & Tanja Bipp
Published Article Citation: Gorgievski, M.J.; Peeters, P.; Rietzschel, E.F.; Bipp, T. (2016). Betrouwbaarheid en Validiteit van de Nederlandse vertaling van de Work Design Questionnaire. Gedrag en Organisatie, 29 (3), 273-301. Click to download the article detailing the translation
Click to download the Dutch language version of the WDQ
German
Translated by: Sebastian Stegmann, Rolf van Dick, Johannes Ullrich, Julie Charalambous, Birgit Menzel, Nikolai Egold, & Tina Tai-Chi Wu Published Article Citation: Stegmann, S., van Dick, R., Ullrich, J., Charalambous, J., Menzel, B., Egold, N. & Tai-Chi Wu, T. (2010). Der Work Design Questionnaire: Vorstellung und erste validierung einer deutschen version. Zeitschrift für Arbeits-u. Organisationpsychologie, 54, 1-28. Click to download the article detailing the translationClick to download the German language version of the WDQ
Translated by: Sebastian Stegmann, Rolf van Dick, Johannes Ullrich, Julie Charalambous, Birgit Menzel, Nikolai Egold, & Tina Tai-Chi Wu
Published Article Citation: Stegmann, S., van Dick, R., Ullrich, J., Charalambous, J., Menzel, B., Egold, N. & Tai-Chi Wu, T. (2010). Der Work Design Questionnaire: Vorstellung und erste validierung einer deutschen version. Zeitschrift für Arbeits-u. Organisationpsychologie, 54, 1-28.
Click to download the article detailing the translation
Click to download the German language version of the WDQ
Polish
Translated by: Mateusz Hauk Published Article Citation: Hauk, M. (2014). Kwestionariusz Cech Pracy – Opracowanie Polskiej Wersji Narzędzia Do Badania Cech Pracy I Środowiska Zawodowego. Wstępne Wyniki Badań. Folia Psychologica, 18,129-145. Note: This translation uses a reduced set of the WDQ items for each of the work characteristics. Click to download the article detailing the translationClick to download the Polish language version of the WDQ
Translated by: Mateusz Hauk
Published Article Citation: Hauk, M. (2014). Kwestionariusz Cech Pracy – Opracowanie Polskiej Wersji Narzędzia Do Badania Cech Pracy I Środowiska Zawodowego. Wstępne Wyniki Badań. Folia Psychologica, 18,129-145.
Note: This translation uses a reduced set of the WDQ items for each of the work characteristics.
Click to download the Polish language version of the WDQ
Spanish
There are at least two Spanish translations of the WDQ. Use the version that is most appropriate for your particular sample.
Translated by: Manuel Fernández Ríos, Raúl G. Ramírez Vielma, José Carlos Sánchez García,Mariana Bargsted Aravena, Jean David Polo Vargas, and Miguel Ángel Ruiz Díaz
Published Article Citation: Fernández Ríos, M., Ramírez Vielma, R. G., Sánchez García, J. C., Bargsted Aravena, M., Polo Vargas, J. D., and Ruiz Díaz, M. A. (2017). Spanish-Language adaptation of Morgeson and Humphrey's Work Design Questionnaire (WDQ). The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 20, e28, 1-30. Click to download the article detailing the translationClick to download the Spanish language version of the WDQ
Published Article Citation: Fernández Ríos, M., Ramírez Vielma, R. G., Sánchez García, J. C., Bargsted Aravena, M., Polo Vargas, J. D., and Ruiz Díaz, M. A. (2017). Spanish-Language adaptation of Morgeson and Humphrey's Work Design Questionnaire (WDQ). The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 20, e28, 1-30.
Click to download the Spanish language version of the WDQ
Translated by: Jaime Andrés Bayona, Amparo Caballer, & José-María Peiró Published Article Citation: Bayona, J. A., Caballer, A., & Peiró, J. M. (2015). The Work Design Questionnaire: Spanish version and adaptation. Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 31, 187-200. Click to download the article detailing the translationClick to download the Spanish language version of the WDQ
Published Article Citation: Bayona, J. A., Caballer, A., & Peiró, J. M. (2015). The Work Design Questionnaire: Spanish version and adaptation. Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 31, 187-200.
Chinese
Translated by: Hawjeng Chiou, Yi-Chun Chou, & Pi-Fang Lin Click to download the Chinese language version of the WDQ
Translated by: Hawjeng Chiou, Yi-Chun Chou, & Pi-Fang Lin
Click to download the Chinese language version of the WDQ
French
Translated by: Marilena Bertolino, Vincent Angel, & Dirk D. Steiner Click to download the French language version of the WDQ
Translated by: Marilena Bertolino, Vincent Angel, & Dirk D. Steiner
Click to download the French language version of the WDQ
Indonesian
Translated by: Hawjeng Chiou, Yi-Chun Chou, & Pi-Fang Lin Click to download the Indonesian language version of the WDQ
Click to download the Indonesian language version of the WDQ
Italian
Translated by: Sara Zaniboni, Marilena Bertolino, Elizabeth McCune, Donald Truxillo, & Franco Fraccaroli Click to download the Italian language version of the WDQ
Translated by: Sara Zaniboni, Marilena Bertolino, Elizabeth McCune, Donald Truxillo, & Franco Fraccaroli
Click to download the Italian language version of the WDQ
Persian
Translated by: Hamidreza Mokarami Click to download the Persian language version of the WDQ
Translated by: Hamidreza Mokarami
Click to download the Persian language version of the WDQ
Portuguese
Translated by: Teresa Proença Click to download the Portuguese language version of the WDQ
Translated by: Teresa Proença
Click to download the Portuguese language version of the WDQ
Russian
Translated by: Julia Levashina Note: This translation uses a reduced set of the WDQ items for each of the work characteristics. Click to download the Russian language version of the WDQ
Translated by: Julia Levashina
Click to download the Russian language version of the WDQ
