Handbook of Management Scales/Ability

Description
Three facets of trustworthiness were measured based on scales designed by Mayer/Davis (1999) to assess the ability, benevolence, and integrity of a supervisor. The Likert-type scale ranged from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

Definition
Ability reflects concepts such as competence, skills, efficiency, and dedication.

Items

 * My supervisor is very capable of performing his/her job.
 * My supervisor is known to be successful at the things s/he tries to do.
 * My supervisor has a lot of knowledge about the work to be done.
 * I feel very confident about my supervisor’s skills.
 * My supervisor has specific capabilities that can increase our performance.
 * My supervisor is well qualified.

Source

 * Colquitt/Rodell (2011): Justice, trust, and trustworthiness: A longitudinal analysis integrating three theoretical perspectives. Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 54, No. 6, pp. 1183–1206

Comments
The mean value was above four. Given that a 5-point scale was used, future researchers could slightly adapt the items in order to shift the mean value to the center (e.g., “very successful” rather than “successful”).

Related Scales

 * Benevolence
 * Integrity
 * Trust