Criterion-Related Cut-Off Values for Decision Latitude and Work Intensity: Determination and Evaluation

Cut-off values allow for an efficient, binary evaluation of sum scores. Cut-off values are often available for questionnaires examining person-related variables, which is indispensable for clinical diagnostics. These values are also desirable for the rating of task characteristics. To date, there are no cut-off values for the rating of task characteristics, such as work intensity and decision latitude. Therefore, over the span of 10 years (from 2006 to 2016), 801 jobs in different sectors were rated by experts. These expert ratings allowed us to classify jobs according to DIN EN ISO 6385 (2016) into well and badly designed decision latitude and well and badly designed work intensity. Based on this classification, cut-off values for the self-reported questionnaire of perceived work intensity and activity latitude (FIT; Richter et al., 2000) were identified using receiver operating characteristics analysis. Self-rated decision latitude with a score of >= 22 and self-rated work intensity with a score of >= 15 indicate badly designed task characteristics. A second sample of 1,076 jobs showed that employees with badly designed decision latitude are more exhausted and show less work engagement, while those with badly designed work intensity are less able to recover and are more exhausted.