Overview

The Alienation from Work Scale (AWS) is a psychometric tool designed to assess the extent to which employees feel disconnected or disengaged from their work. Work alienation is characterized by: Lack of interest in work tasks, Sense of meaninglessness or worthlessness in one’s role, Absence of participation and control over professional activities.

Purpose

The primary goal of the AWS is to: Measure employees’ feelings of alienation and dissatisfaction in the workplace, Identify factors contributing to work alienation, Provide insights for organizational policies and interventions aimed at improving employee engagement and job satisfaction.

Scoring & Calibration

The AWS uses a Likert scale, typically ranging from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 5 (Strongly Agree).Higher scores indicate greater feelings of alienation from work.

Key References

Blauner, R. (1964). Alienation and Freedom: The Factory Worker and His Industry. University of Chicago Press.
Seeman, M. (1959). On the meaning of alienation. American Sociological Review, 24(6), 783-791.
Nair, N., & Vohra, N. (2010). An exploration of factors predicting work alienation of knowledge workers. Management Decision, 48(4), 600-615.
Shantz, A., Alfes, K., Bailey, C., & Soane, E. (2015). Drivers and outcomes of work alienation: Reviving a concept. Journal of Management Inquiry, 24(4), 382-393.