The Work Gratitude Scale: Development and Evaluation of a Multidimensional Measure

Abstract

This study explores gratitude as a multidimensional and work-specific construct. Utilizing a sample of 625 employees from a variety of positions in a medium-sized school district in the United States, we developed and evaluated a new measure, namely the Work Gratitude Scale (WGS), which encompasses recognized conative (intentional), cognitive, affective, and social aspects of gratitude. A systematic, six-phased approach through structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to explore and confirm the factorial structure, internal consistency, measurement invariance, concurrent, convergent, and discriminant validity of the WGS. The results supported a 10-item measure with three dimensions: “grateful appraisals” (three items), “gratitude toward others” (four items), and “intentional attitude of gratitude” (three items). Thereafter, first-order, second-order, and bifactor confirmatory models were estimated and compared. Work gratitude was found to be best described by a second-order construct with three underlying first-order dimensions. Measurement invariance was supported in relation to gender. Concurrent validity was supported in relation to two existing dispositional gratitude scales, namely the Gratitude Questionnaire and the Gratitude, Resentment, and Appreciation Scale (GRAT). Convergent validity was supported in relation to the Core Self-Evaluations Scale (CSES) and the Psychological Capital Questionnaire. Discriminant validity was supported in relation to various demographic factors such as age, gender, occupation, and tenure. The findings support the WGS as a multidimensional measure that can be used in practice to measure overall work-related gratitude and to track the effectiveness of gratitude-related workplace interventions.

PERMA+4: A Framework for Work-Related Wellbeing, Performance and Positive Organizational Psychology 2.0

“…Specifically, this definition synthesizes the conative (intentional choice), cognitive (positive appraisals), affective (feelings), and social (people) aspects of gratitude. Further, it takes into consideration that gratitude is a situational and context-specific state, rather than just a general disposition” which complements and supports PsyCap theory ( Youssef-Morgan et al, 2021 , p. 3). These factors are considered personal or psychological resources that synchronously interact to produce a development-based mindset overtime through intentionality, goal pursuit and self-discipline ( Luthans and Youssef-Morgan, 2017 ).…”

“…In more context-specific terms, PsyCap could be seen as another indicator or element of building a positive mindset at work ( Luthans and Youssef-Morgan, 2017 ; Luthans and Broad, 2019 ; Donaldson et al, 2021 ; Youssef-Morgan et al, 2021 ). Psychological capital refers to the development-orientated mindset individuals adopt that is characterized by “(1) having confidence to take on and put in the necessary effort to succeed at challenging tasks (self-efficacy), (2) making a positive attribution about succeeding now and in the future (optimism), (3) persevering toward goals and when necessary, redirecting paths to goals in order to succeed (hope), and (4) when beset by problems and adversity, sustaining and bouncing back and even beyond to attain success (resilience)” ( Luthans et al, 2015 , p. 2).…”

“…Psychological capital refers to the development-orientated mindset individuals adopt that is characterized by “(1) having confidence to take on and put in the necessary effort to succeed at challenging tasks (self-efficacy), (2) making a positive attribution about succeeding now and in the future (optimism), (3) persevering toward goals and when necessary, redirecting paths to goals in order to succeed (hope), and (4) when beset by problems and adversity, sustaining and bouncing back and even beyond to attain success (resilience)” ( Luthans et al, 2015 , p. 2). More recently, Youssef-Morgan et al (2021) argued that work-related gratitude should be seen as an integral (additional) component of PsyCap. They argued that work-related gratitude is an “the intentional choice to engage in positive appraisals and feelings of thankfulness and appreciation toward the characteristics, situations, and people currently present in one’s work context.…”

The Life Crafting Scale: Development and Validation of a Multi-Dimensional Meaning-Making Measure

“…Since there are eight factors in our hypotheses, we first extracted eight factors to check the quality of the items. We only retained factors with an eigenvalue of at least 1, and the total combined explained variance of all the retained factors was set to at least explain 50% of the overall variance ( Carpenter, 2018 ; Youssef-Morgan et al, 2022 ). Furthermore, we removed those items with a factor loading and commonality smaller than 0.4 or when they loaded more than 0.4 on more than one factor ( Carpenter, 2018 ).…”

Grand Challenges for Positive Psychology: Future Perspectives and Opportunities

“…For example, “Joy” is seen as indistinguishable from other factors such as happiness, pleasure, positive emotion or the emotionality aspect of extraversion (Schnitker et al, 2020 ). Another example is “Psychological Capital” [PsyCap: Luthans ( 2002 )], where four well-established theoretical concepts (hope, optimism, resilience and self-efficacy) were merely combined into a higher-order factor and presented as a new concept (Youssef-Morgan et al, 2022 ). Similarly, “Grit” (Duckworth et al, 2007 ) is seen one of the best predictors of personal success and performance, yet is indistinguishable from factors like conscientiousness or diligence (Van Zyl et al, 2021 ).…”