Work-related Risk and Integrity Scale (WRISc)

The WRISc is a covert, or personality-based integrity measure developed with the specific aim of minimising a range of negative behaviours that can cause harm to an organisation, or individuals within an organisation. Such behaviours are collectively known as counterproductive work behaviours (CWB). The scales of the WRISc are based on a psychological body of empirical and theoretical research on counterproductive work behaviour, integrity testing, criminal risk and normal risk-taking. Thus, the assessment provides a measure of an individual’s propensity to engage in counterproductive work and risk-taking behaviours.

In the world of psychometrics, language should never be a barrier to understanding human potential—or identifying workplace risk. At JVR, we are committed to ensuring our assessments are as inclusive as they are scientifically rigorous.

We are excited to share with our clients that the WRISc is now also available in Portuguese! The initial validation results for the Portuguese translation of the WRISc was conducted in 2025 and consisted of 299 working adults fluent in both English and Portuguese. To ensure cultural and linguistic nuance, we partnered with cApStAn, a global leader in linguistic quality control. The focus was specifically on ensuring the items resonate with the Portuguese dialect used in Africa, ensuring the assessment feels natural and relevant to local respondents.

ASSESSMENT SCALES

The WRISc assessment includes the following 12 scales:

• Aggression-Extent to which individual has difficulty managing internal anger

• Callous Affect-Degree to which individual is uncaring and indifferent towards others

• Cynicism-Degree to which individual believes that others are insincere

• Egotism-Extent to which individual has inflated and aggrandizing sense of self

• External Locus of Control-Extent to which individual believes that life outcomes are controllable

• Impulsivity-Degree to which individual’s behaviour is influenced by impulses

• Low Effortful Control-Degree to which individual is ill-disciplined and careless in efforts

• Manipulation-Extent to which individual makes use of disingenuous practices

• Negative Affect-Tendency to experience negative emotions such as guilt and anxiety

• Pessimism-Extent to which individual has negative outlook on life

• Risk-Taking Behaviours-Degree to which individual seeks varied and intense sensations

• Rule-Defiance-Degree to which individual is willing to break rules or challenge authority.

AREAS OF APPLICATION

The  WRISc  can be used to predict counter-productive work behaviours aiding screening, selection, and recruitment decisions.

REPORT OPTIONS

• Interpretive Candidate Report: indicates how the respondent scored on each of the 12 primary scales, with high scores considered potentially problematic.

• Interpretive Practitioner Report: contains the candidate report as well as a report on six multidimensional indices, providing the practitioner an indication of possible risk associated with counterproductive work behaviour (CWB) and criminal tendencies.