Measuring athlete leadership skills: Invariance and relationship with collective efficacy across two time points

The development of athlete leaders involves learning and acquiring the skills necessary to execute leadership tasks. The study first aimed to explore the factor structure of a questionnaire measuring athlete leadership skills. We then examined its measurement invariance and investigated the relationship between athlete leadership skills and collective efficacy across two time points. The study included 296 intercollegiate athletes. We examined the factor structure of the athlete leadership skills questionnaire, comprising cognitive, interpersonal, management, and visioning skills, using exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Controlling for the non-independence of observations, the results supported the four-factor ESEM solution over a CFA solution. The results also favored a bi-factor model representation with the presence of a global leadership skills factor. Follow-ups were conducted with 224 participants. The longitudinal measurement invariance of the athlete leadership skills questionnaire was supported. We then tested a random intercept model using factor scores. The results indicated that athlete leadership skills were stable over time and demonstrated a significant positive relationship between the random intercepts of athlete leadership skills and collective efficacy. The findings suggest an inherent relationship between these two constructs. Overall, the results provided preliminary validity evidence for the athlete leadership skills questionnaire. The four leadership skills may be targeted in the development of athlete leaders, and the questionnaire can be used for their assessment. Simultaneous efforts to develop collective efficacy may also be critical.