Dr Tish F. Taylor, Dr Wilhelm K. Neuland
Abstract
Despite the important role of survey research in managerial sciences, scale development is often neglected in master’s and doctoral training, even with programmes designed to develop advanced research skills. As a result, the use of existing scales has become the default approach—arguably a fundamentally flawed strategy. This conceptual paper aims to create a simple, understandable scale creation guide tailored to the managerial sciences. Crude in its simplicity but robust in execution, the guide empowers researchers to place scale creation on equal footing with existing scale usage. The scale guide comprises 34 considerations, organised into six sequenced steps to enhance understandability and ease of use. Should students, supervisors, or researchers decide to make use of an existing scale, a robust guide to existing scale evaluative steps (or ESES) has been compiled to assist with this process. Most importantly, it is designed to fit onto two pages. Future researchers are encouraged to explore further simplification and robustness of scale creation guides.