Humor Competence Scale (HCS): scale development and validation

Objective This study introduces the construct of Humor Competence, a set of interrelated psychological and interpersonal capacities that support successful humour use, and reports on the development and validation of a four-dimensional model of humour competence.Method Following an extensive item-generation and validation process, the 32-item Humor Competence Scale (HCS) was developed. The scale represents four humour competence domains: fluency, awareness, composure and discretion. The main validation study involved an international sample of workplace leaders (N = 623; 48% Female; age M = 35.84, SD = 10.34) completing the HCS along with Humor Styles Questionnaire, Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire, and a measure of transformational leadership.Results The HCS yielded a clean four-factor solution, and the subscales demonstrated good reliability. The scales showed meaningful correlations with trait emotional intelligence, reinforcing the idea that effective humour use is closely related to social effectiveness and psychological adjustment. While the new measure showed some overlap with established humour styles, it also captured unique elements related to cognition, emotion and behavioural regulation and provided superior prediction of transformational leadership.Conclusions The new measure provides a useful tool for future investigations of humour use in the workplace, along with potential utility in non-workplace settings.