Development and Validation of the Workplace Social Dominance Orientation Scale

Abstract

The present study was conducted to develop and validate a measure of Workplace Social Dominance Orientation (WSDO). Items were developed and refined based on a theoretically derived definition of WSDO, and the scale’s psychometric properties were tested across two samples (student employees and managers). The final 7-item WSDO scale was generally distinct from existing constructs such as (original) Social Dominance Orientation and showed discriminant validity with theoretically unrelated constructs such as Extraversion and Conscientiousness. Although the WSDO scale predicted a number of workplace outcomes (i.e., impression management), the original Social Dominance Orientation scale along with the personality facet of Honesty-Humility were better predictors of these outcomes, after controlling for age and gender. Overall, these results suggest that there is moderate support in favor of the WSDO scale.