A Psychometric and Cross-National Examination of a Belief in a Just World Scale

The study examined the psychometric properties of Dalbert, Montada, and Schmitt's (1987) English version of their 6-item belief in a just world scale using a sample of 253 Canadian management undergraduates. This study found strong support for the homogeneity of the scale, the independence of the scale from the influence of social desirability, and the concurrent validity of the scale as seen in significant correlations with Rubin and Peplau's (1975) 20-item just world scale. Cross-national comparisons show that this Canadian sample scored significantly higher than did the European and Hawaiian samples reported by Dalbert and her colleagues.