Validity and Reliability of Work Ability Index in Turkish Context: Inter-Level, Direct, and Indirect Relations with Job Satisfaction and Task Performance

ABSTRACT

Descriptive research on work ability is well advanced. However, literature is still far from explaining its consequences. Besides, Turkish literature has been quite limited in terms of considering the work ability concept. In the research, the work ability index, and task performance scale were adapted to Turkish. The research was patterned with quantitative method. According to findings, the improvement of work ability levels and increase in job satisfaction and task performance are related in the same direction. Moreover, work ability positively contributes to directly predicting job satisfaction and task performance. Furthermore, work ability positively contributes to indirectly predicting task performance through job satisfaction. This mediation effect, determined for the first time, is an important research finding regarding its contribution to literature. Apart from these, there are significant differences in work ability among age groups, and certain age group categories have a moderating effect on the relationship between work ability and task performance. This study demonstrated that work ability index is a valid and reliable tool for the Turkish sample. Besides, the study provides holistic findings thanks to work ability levels and direct and indirect effect analysis. The theoretical and practical implications were discussed, and directions were made to further research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data sets associated with the present study are available upon request of interested researchers.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. This article is derived from the first author’s doctoral thesis (Develi, 2020).

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Scientific Research Projects Unit of Osmaniye Korkut Ata University (Project no: OKÜBAP-2018-PT2-002).