Cross-cultural adaptation of the Individual Work Performance Questionnaire.

BACKGROUND The Individual Work Performance Questionnaire (IWPQ), measuring task performance, contextual performance, and counterproductive work behavior, was developed in The Netherlands. OBJECTIVES To cross-culturally adapt the IWPQ from the Dutch to the American-English language, and assess the questionnaire's internal consistency and content validity in the American-English context. METHODS A five stage translation and adaptation process was used: forward translation, synthesis, back-translation, expert committee review, and pilot-testing. During the pilot-testing, cognitive interviews with 40 American workers were performed, to examine the comprehensibility, applicability, and completeness of the American-English IWPQ. RESULTS Questionnaire instructions were slightly modified to aid interpretation in the American-English language. Inconsistencies with verb tense were identified, and it was decided to consistently use simple past tense. The wording of five items was modified to better suit the American-English language. In general, participants were positive on the comprehensibility, applicability and completeness of the questionnaire during the pilot-testing phase. Furthermore, the study showed positive results concerning the internal consistency (Cronbach's alphas for the scales between 0.79-0.89) and content validity of the American-English IWPQ. CONCLUSION The results indicate that the cross-cultural adaptation of the American-English IWPQ was successful and that the measurement properties of the translated version are promising.