Title:	[ResearchData] Does “very” make a difference? Effects of intensifiers in item stems of employee attitude surveys on response behavior
Authors:	Hofschroeer*, Patrick Schumacher*, Svenja Kristina Karsten, Mueller
ORCID of the author:	https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5583-5468 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7158-3309 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7389-8024
Abstract:	Employee attitude surveys are important tools for organizational development. To gain insights into employees’ attitudes, surveys most often use Likert-type items. Measures assessing these attitudes frequently use intensifiers (e.g., extremely, very) in item stems. To date little is known about the effects of intensifiers in the item stem on response behavior. They are frequently used inconsistently, which potentially has implications for the comparability of results in the context of benchmarking. Also, results often suffer from left-skewed distributions limiting data quality for which the use of intensifiers potentially offers a remedy. Therefore, we systematically examine the effects of intensifiers’ on response behavior in employee attitude surveys and their potential to remedy the issue of left-skewed distributions. In three studies, we assess effects on level, skewness and nomological structure. Study 1 examines the effects of intensifier strength in the item stem, while Studies 2 and 3 assess whether intensifier salience would increase these effects further. Interestingly, results did not show systematic effects. Future research ideas in regards to item design and processing as well as practical implications for the design of employee attitude surveys are discussed. Key Words: employee attitude survey, survey design, intensifier, item stem, ceiling effect, left-skewed distribution, intensifier salience, intensifier strength
URL:	https://osnadocs.ub.uni-osnabrueck.de/handle/urn:nbn:de:gbv:700-202005203071
Subject Keywords:	employee attitude survey; item stem; ceiling effect; left-skewed distribution; intensifier salience; intensifier strength
Issue Date:	1-Jan-2020
License name:	Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Germany
License url:	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/de/
Type of publication:	Forschungsdaten [ResearchData]
Appears in Collections:	FB08 - Hochschulschriften

This item is licensed under a Creative Commons License