The Chinese Version of WOrk-reLated Flow Inventory (WOLF): An Examination of Reliability and Validity

Abstract

For introducing the WOrk-reLated Flow Inventory which was developed by Bakker (2008) to the research of work-related flow in China, and examing the reliability and validity of the scale, Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis have s howed us that the scale was composed of 3 factors such as, absorption, enjoyment and intrinsic motivation. The Cronbach α of the 3 subscales were between 0.68 and 0.80, and the Cronbach α of WLOF was 0.87. Furthermore, the fitting index of model is well. Therefore, the Chinese version of WOLF has showed to be reliable and valid. I ntroduction Recently, pressure for people appears to be growing with the development of social and material living conditions. Therefore it is urgent and important to maintain a positive mental attitude at work. Different disciplines' and fields' scholars studied a host of work-related variables, including positive emotion state as well as flow at work. The notion of flow at work was advocated in the 1970's by Csikszemtmihalyi, who has been studying for the states of optimal experience over 20 years. Flow at work means a state of concentration so focused that it amounts to absolute absorption in an activity. Everyone experiences flow from time to time and will reflect the self-enjoyment emotion state (1). In early studies, most of them were aimed at special g roups of the career, such as musician and professional athlete, and on this basis they developed a series of flow scales, of which Flow State Scale (FSS) and Dispositional Flow Scale (DFS) were the most widely used(2). Then scholars designed the abbreviated Flow State Scales---FSS-2 and DFS-2. With the further advances of scientific research, the introduction of flow is becoming increasingly important in organizational behavior. In 2008, a new kind of scale called Work-ReLated Flow inventory (WOLF) was developed by Bakker, and this type of scale was specifically designed for the general work fields. However, because of the late arrival, WOLF is seldom used in previous empirical studies in China. Hence, we aim to analyze the WOLF through confirmatory factor analysis and provide foundation for future research.