Development and psychometric evaluation of the reciprocal empowerment scale

This article reports on the development and evaluation of the Reciprocal Empowerment Scale (RES) which was designed to measure empowerment in the context of the leader-follower relationship in organizational settings. The instrument was developed through a process of retroductive triangulation of theoretical and empirical empowerment literature and results of a qualitative study. Deletion of items not considered valid by a panel of expert judges brought the content validity index to .97. An internal consistency reliability coefficient alpha of .95 was achieved for the RES. Subscale coefficients of .82 to .95 were obtained. Convergent and divergent validity and freedom from social desirability response bias were supported. Principal component extraction with oblique rotation resulted in a three-factor solution: reciprocity, synergy, and ownership. With further testing, the RES should prove useful for nursing administration research and practice.