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Leadership: validation of a self-report scale
Marc Dussault1, Eric Frenette, Claude Fernet
1Département des Sciences de la Gestion, Université du Québec a Trois-Rivières, C.P. 500, Trois-Rivières, Canada G9A 5H7. Marc.Dussault@uqtr.ca
Psychological Reports
|July 10, 2013
Summary
A new leadership questionnaire was developed and validated for school principals. The final 21-item scale effectively measures leadership dimensions, aligning with established theories.
Area of Science:
- Educational Leadership
- Psychometrics
- Organizational Behavior
Background:
- Leadership is crucial in educational settings.
- Existing leadership questionnaires may have limitations.
- A validated self-report measure is needed for school principals.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate a new self-report leadership questionnaire.
- To test the factor structure of the proposed leadership scale.
- To ensure the questionnaire is concise and psychometrically sound.
Main Methods:
- Classical Test Theory for item analysis.
- Rasch analysis to refine items.
- Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) with structural equation modeling.
- Invariance testing with a second sample.
Main Results:
- A 21-item questionnaire was finalized.
- A hierarchical model with leadership as a third-order dimension, transactional and transformational as second-order dimensions, and laissez-faire as a first-order dimension showed good fit.
- Factor structure invariance was confirmed across principal and vice-principal samples.
Conclusions:
- The new leadership questionnaire demonstrates a robust factor structure.
- The scale aligns with Bass's (1985) theoretical model of leadership.
- This validated instrument can be used to assess leadership in educational contexts.
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