Happiness at work: Developing a shorter measure

Abstract

AbstractThe notion of happiness at work is becoming increasingly important for human resource management research. Despite the widespread existence of different constructs that capture positive attitudes, a comprehensive measure of individual-level happiness is necessary. Starting from Fisher’s conceptualisation of happiness at work, Salas-Vallina, Alegre, and Fernández developed a 31-item scale to measure happiness at work. This scale accurately captures the different dimensions of happiness in the workplace context. However, it is a long scale. Shorter scales provide major improvements in efficiency and efficacy. Our study, conducted with two diversified samples, conceptualises and measures happiness at work. Following the steps suggested by Stanton, Sinar, Balzer, and Smith and Kacmar, Crawford, Carlson, Ferguson, and Whitten, we provide a shortened version of the happiness at work scale, while maintaining its psychometric properties. We argue that this new measurement scale presents a high statistical potential to widely capture positive attitudes at work and opens undeveloped research possibilities.