Towards a Scale of Islamic Work Ethic: Validation from Middle Eastern Countries

This paper aims at developing a valid scale of Islamic work ethics in the Middle Eastern region. Building on an extensive review of the work ethic scales presented in the literature, 15 items were formulated and assessed by experts in the field of Islamic studies. Data were collected from two samples: Sample A (N. 525) represents employees working in diverse sectors in Palestine and Jordan, and Sample B (N. 727) represents employees working in several sectors in Oman, Qatar, and UAE. Questionnaires were distributed online to the participants. Data were subject to different validity and reliability checks. These included exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and internal consistency. Our results suggested a 12-item unidimensional scale. The originality of this work stems from the fact that it presents the first Islamic work ethic scale developed and confirmed using data collected from several countries in the region.