Job Characteristics Inventory (JCI)
About the Inventory
The Job Characteristics
Inventory (JCI) measures individuals on how they feel
about the: (1) experienced meaningfulness of their
work, (2) experienced responsibility for outcomes, and
(3) knowledge of the actual results of their work.
Positive scores on
these three dimensions result in employees having high
internal motivation, high quality work performance,
high satisfaction with their work, and reduced
absenteeism and job turnover. The JCI is a highly
valid and reliable 15-item, self-report instrument that
measures an individual on five dimensions:
-
skill variety
– the extent to which a job requires a variety of
employee competencies to carry it out
-
task identity
– the extent to which a job requires an employee
to complete a whole piece of work (from start to
finish)
-
task significance
– the extent to which an employee sees his or her
work as meaningful
-
autonomy
– the extent to which the employee has empowerment
and discretion in carrying out his or her tasks
-
feedback
– the extent to which one receives clear
information about the effectiveness of performance
The instrument also includes a "Motivating Potential
Score” (MPS) component, which indicates whether or not
an employee is strongly motivated to perform his or her
particular job. The MPS model proposes that a job must
have “meaningfulness,” "responsibility,” and
“feedback.” Without these three components there is:
(1) a lack of job enrichment, (2) the job is
incomplete, and (3) it does not strongly motivate an
employee.
Benefits of the JCI
There
are several strengths of the JCI, but one of the major
strengths of this instrument is found in its ability to
measure employee motivation by calculating the
Motivating Potential Score of JCI respondents. More
highly motivated employees generally tend to:
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