Desirability of Control (Brief)

What it measures

Three items measure the degree to which a person wants to be in control of their own destiny and work environment. Consiglio, De Angelis, and Costabile (2018) used the scale in Study 4 with 119 Erasmus University students. Two items were borrowed directly from Burger and Cooper's (1979) Desirability of Control scale; a third item from an unstated source was added.

Response format

7-point Likert (1=strongly disagree, 7=strongly agree)

Scale items

• I enjoy having control over my own destiny.
• I like to be in control of most things that occur in my life.
• I prefer a job where I have a lot of control over what I do and when I do it.

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

Items 1 and 3 appear in the full 20-item Desirability of Control scale by Burger and Cooper (1979) — see ID 501 for the complete instrument. Alpha of .76 is modest; the full scale may be more reliable for trait-level measurement. Validity was not discussed.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Consiglio, I., De Angelis, M., & Costabile, M. (2018). The effect of social density on word of mouth. Journal of Consumer Research, 45(3), 511–528.

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