Chapter 5 Measuring Affect Over Time: The Momentary Affect Scale

Abstract

Affect is a dynamic construct that varies over time and can significantly influence motivation and performance in organisational contexts. This chapter addresses key conceptual and methodological challenges that arise when aiming to measure affect as a within-person process. The literature has been divided on whether the structure of affect is unipolar or bipolar and no research has considered this structure across levels of analysis. Measuring affect as a within-person process also requires a brief scale that can be administered with minimal disruption. This chapter presents data that provide evidence for bipolarity in the structure of affect. We use these data to validate the momentary affect scale, which is a new brief affect scale that can be used in within-person research designs and applied settings.

Citation

Gee, P., Ballard, T., Yeo, G. and Neal, A. (2012), "Chapter 5 Measuring Affect Over Time: The Momentary Affect Scale", Ashkanasy, N.M., Härtel, C.E.J. and Zerbe, W.J. (Ed.) Experiencing and Managing Emotions in the Workplace (Research on Emotion in Organizations, Vol. 8), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 141-173. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1746-9791(2012)0000008010