Decent work is positioned as the centerpiece of the recently developed Psychology of Working Theory (PWT; Duffy, Blustein, Diemer, & Autin, 2016). However, to date, no instrument exists which assesses all 5 components of decent work from a psychological perspective. In the current study, we developed the Decent Work Scale (DWS) and demonstrated several aspects of validity with 2 samples of working adults. In Study 1 (N = 275), a large pool of items were developed and exploratory factor analysis was conducted resulting in a final 15-item scale with 5 factors/subscales corresponding to the 5 components of decent work: (a) physically and interpersonally safe working conditions, (b) access to health care, (c) adequate compensation, (d) hours that allow for free time and rest, and (e) organizational values that complement family and social values. In Study 2 (N = 589), confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that a 5-factor, bifactor model offered the strongest and most parsimonious fit to the data. Configural, metric, and scalar invariance models were tested demonstrating that the structure of the instrument did not differ across gender, income, social class, and majority/minority racial/ethnic groups. Finally, the overall scale score and 5 subscale scores correlated in the expected directions with similar constructs supporting convergent and discriminant evidence of validity, and subscale scores evidenced predictive validity in the prediction of job satisfaction, work meaning, and withdrawal intentions. The development of this scale provides a useful tool for researchers and practitioners seeking to assess the attainment of decent work among employed adults. (PsycINFO Database Record

In a time where employability issues are at the top of political agendas and employment prospects represent the most important predictor of satisfaction with higher education, the question about how higher education institutions can better prepare their graduates for the labour market becomes increasingly important. Taking the career construction theory as its main theoretical framework, this study intends to explore the role of career adaptability as a mediating variable between competencies developed during higher education studies and perceived employability. The participants were 373 students attending the last year of master’s degree programmes, who completed the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale, the Self-Perceived Employability Scale, and a survey exploring students’ perceptions about their competencies at the end of their university programme. The results indicated that career adaptability has a mediating role between self-perceived competency and self-perceived employability. Although academic competencies represent a prerequisite for employability, the findings suggest that graduating students should also be equipped with career management resources to handle their own attributes and to transition smoothly into the current labour market. These findings are particularly important because they reveal how higher education institutions can foster the employability of graduates by integrating training opportunities in career management during graduation programmes.