Development of a Chinese measure on twelve basic emotions and a preliminary test on a two-dimentional model on emotions-job outcome relationship

Abstract

The role of emotions in the workplace is getting more research attention in the past two decades. This is also true for research in the Chinese context recently. In this study, we attempt to develop a more comprehensive measurement scale for Chinese respondents, state-trait discrete emotions scale (STDES), to facilitate future research in the Chinese context. On top of scale development, with reference to the discrete emotions perspective and the exit, voice, loyalty and neglect (EVLN) classification of employee job outcomes, we propose a model with two dimensions for both discrete emotions and job outcomes: constructive versus destructive and active versus passive to further validate the scale. Empirically, we use a four-stage six-sample design to develop STDES and preliminarily test the two-dimensional model. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.