What is it about?
This study addresses a central methodological question in cross-cultural psychology: Is it better to translate an established Western measure or to develop a new, culturally grounded one? The article compares two Arabic measures of organizational justice used with Kuwaiti employees: the Arabic translation of Colquitt’s (2001) organizational justice scale, and a newly developed Arabic Measure of Organizational Justice (AMOJ) designed to reflect everyday language and cultural meanings in Arab workplaces. Using data from 781 public-sector employees, the study employs confirmatory factor analysis and multiple regression to examine factorial structure, reliability, and—most importantly—predictive power for key outcomes such as instrumentality, organizational commitment, collective esteem, and organizational citizenship behavior.
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Why is it important?
Methodological contribution: Demonstrates that cultural equivalence cannot be assumed through translation alone. Empirical evidence: Shows that a culturally developed measure (AMOJ) predicts important work outcomes better than a translated Western scale. Cross-cultural relevance: Highlights how justice perceptions are shaped by language, culture, and everyday organizational experience. Practical implications: Guides researchers and practitioners in choosing between translation and local scale development when working in non-Western contexts.
Perspectives
This article reflects my long-standing concern with how psychological constructs are measured outside Western contexts. Rather than assuming that translation guarantees validity, we wanted to test whether culturally grounded measurement offers real added value. The findings reinforced my view that measurement is not a technical step, but a theoretical and cultural decision. Developing tools that speak the language—conceptually and linguistically—of the population being studied is essential for advancing both theory and practice in cross-cultural organizational psychology.
Prof. Othman H Alkhadher
Kuwait University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: To translate or to develop a measure? The case of a new Arabic measure of organizational justice, International Journal of Selection and Assessment, February 2017, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/ijsa.12162.
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