To translate or to develop a measure? The case of a new Arabic measure of organizational justice
International Journal of Selection and Assessment
Published online on February 07, 2017
Abstract
One of the most prominent and widely used self‐reporting scales for assessing organizational justice perceptions was developed by Colquitt (2001). This scale has been used internationally and has therefore been translated into several languages including Arabic. In a recent study, after conducting a careful review of organizational justice literature to ensure its relevance to Arabic culture, Alkhadher and Gadalreb () developed a new Arabic measure of organizational justice (AMOJ) perceptions and found evidence of a four‐factor scale structure. The purpose of this study is to compare the Arabic version of Colquitt's measure of organizational justice (AVCMOJ) with the AMOJ in terms of predictive power using various outcome measures used by Colquitt (2001). The two scales were administered to 781 Kuwaiti employees (47.6% males) from the public sector. A multiple‐sample confirmatory factor analysis supports the four‐dimensional structure for both AVCMOJ and AMOJ measures. Cronbach's alpha obtained for subscales was found to range between 0.72 and 0.85. The predictive power of the three AMOJ dimensions (distributional, procedural, and informational) was found to be higher than that of the AVCMOJ. The results of the present study raise issues of scale development against the translation of well‐developed scales. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.