The way people decide the cause of their own actions has been shown to be fundamental to their success or failure at work. Optimistic people attribute their success to themselves whereas pessimists tend to attribute their failures to themselves. A measurement of attributional styles predicts occupational success and can therefore be used in selection and appraisal exercises.

Professor Adrian Furnham of University College London (UCL) is a leading occupational psychologist with an international reputation. His Occupational Attributional Style Questionnaire:

• is ideal for assessing attributions in the work-place
• was first published in 1992.
• is psychometrically designed and validated with excellent internalreliability for an attributional style questionnaire
• has been tested internationally
• follows a well-known method of assessing attributional style