Measuring appreciation made EA-SI-the development of a short scale to measure experienced appreciation in social interactions at work

Abstract

Experienced appreciation at work is incongruently defined and measured in the scientific literature. Therefore, this article aims to give an overview of different definitions and measures of experienced appreciation at work to clarify the confusing state of research. Then, the new construct, Experienced Appreciation in Social Interactions (EA-SI) at Work, is introduced to counter the incongruency in defining experienced appreciation at work and to provide a reliable and comparable operationalization of the construct. In a second step, the article aims to develop and validate a short scale to measure EA-SI more time-efficiently. To do so, the instrument is derived from the original EA-SI Work Scale considering confirmatory factor analyses, artificial intelligence, and the evaluation of naïve and expert judges based on a sample of N = 391 employees. Subsequently, the EA-SI Work Scale (short) – including k = 4 items each for colleagues and supervisors as a source of experienced appreciation – is validated in a second independent sample with N = 323 participants. The assumptions of its theoretical framework (the Stress as Offense to Self-theory) and the relations between EA-SI and employee work engagement and burnout were tested to validate the short scale. Additionally, its internal consistency, convergent, and discriminant validity were determined. Social support was added as a control variable to test for EA-SI’s incremental predictive value. The results highlight the unidimensional structure of EA-SI and point toward high reliability and validity of the short scale. Conclusively, the limitations and implications of the findings are discussed.