Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (short version)
UWES-9Permission: Free for research use. Free for non-commercial academic research, with no license fee. Cite the original publication.
A 9-item short form of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale measuring work engagement across three dimensions: Vigor, Dedication, and Absorption.
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Reliability & validation
Subscales
Scoring
- Vigor
- Mean of items 1, 2, 5
- Dedication
- Mean of items 3, 4, 7
- Absorption
- Mean of items 6, 8, 9
- Total work engagement
- Mean of items 1–9
- Score range
- 0–6
- Reverse-keyed items
- None
Responses run from 0 (never) to 6 (always, every day).
Response anchors
Never · Almost never (A few times a year or less) · Rarely (Once a month or less) · Sometimes (A few times a month) · Often (Once a week) · Very often (A few times a week) · Always (Every day)
Known limitations
Free for academic use (for example, theses and scientific papers) on the condition that some data are shared with the authors; other uses require a contract with the authors. The three-factor structure is sometimes supplanted by a one-factor solution in applied samples, so inspect the factor structure in your data before interpreting subscales separately.
Original citation
Schaufeli, W. B., Bakker, A. B., & Salanova, M. (2006). The measurement of work engagement with a short questionnaire: A cross-national study. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 66(4), 701-716.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0013164405282471Questions researchers ask
What does the UWES-9 measure?
A 9-item short form of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale measuring work engagement across three dimensions: Vigor, Dedication, and Absorption.
How many items does the UWES-9 have?
The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (short version) (UWES-9) has 9 items across 3 subscales: Vigor, Dedication, Absorption.
Is the UWES-9 free to use?
The UWES-9 is free to use for non-commercial academic research. You don't need to pay a license fee, but you should always cite the original publication.
Is the UWES-9 reliable?
Validation studies report Cronbach's α of 0.92. See the reliability section for the population studied and full statistics.
Who developed the UWES-9, and how do I cite it?
Schaufeli, W. B., Bakker, A. B., & Salanova, M. (2006). The measurement of work engagement with a short questionnaire: A cross-national study. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 66(4), 701-716. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013164405282471
How do you score the UWES-9?
Vigor: Mean of items 1, 2, 5. Dedication: Mean of items 3, 4, 7. Absorption: Mean of items 6, 8, 9. Total work engagement: Mean of items 1–9. Score range 0–6. Reverse-keyed items: None.
Related scales
Library entry verified September 2026. Metadata is provided for reference. Questionnaires are built in Folio Surveyor, subject to each instrument's licensing, and can be taken to Qualtrics, Google Forms or Microsoft Forms, with their CSV responses brought back for scoring.