Regulatory Focus-Scale (RFS): Development of a scale to record dispositional regulatory focus

This article presents the Regulatory Focus Scale (RFS), an instrument comprising 10 items to record promotion orientation and prevention orientation, in accordance with regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997, 1998). In Study 1 (n = 130), 33 newly-constructed items were specified to record dispositional regulatory focus. They were administered along with the Regulatory Strength Measure (RSM) and items of various dimensions of the Schwartz values questionnaire (Schwartz Portrait Questionnaire, SPQ). Using distribution and factor analyses (exploratory und confirmatory), 10 new items were put together to create the RFS. Promotion orientation factors were named Openness to New Things and Autonomy, whereas prevention orientation factors were termed Orientation to the Expectations of Others and Sense of Obligation. There were only low correlations between the RFS and the results of the RSM, but very clear correlations between the RFS and the SPQ. In Study 2, using an independent sample (n = 200), it was possible to confirm the factor structure of the RFS found in Study 1.