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Assessing the discriminant validity of transformational leader behaviour as measured by the MLQ 1
Author(s) -
Carless Sally A.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of occupational and organizational psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.257
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 2044-8325
pISSN - 0963-1798
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8325.1998.tb00681.x
Subject(s) - transformational leadership , psychology , lisrel , confirmatory factor analysis , social psychology , discriminant validity , structural equation modeling , developmental psychology , psychometrics , statistics , mathematics , internal consistency
Bass's (1985) proposition that transformational leadership can be defined by distinct constructs (charisma, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration) was tested. Using LISREL 8 confirmatory factor analysis, a three‐factor first‐order model (Model 1) was compared with a single‐factor model (Model 2) and a hierarchical model (Model 3). The sample consisted of 1440 subordinates who worked in Australia for an international bank. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ‐5X; Avolio, Bass & Jung, 1995) was used to assess transformational leadership. The findings showed that a multidimensional first‐order model and a hierarchical model both fitted the data. Based on the evidence presented, it was argued that the MLQ assesses a single higher order construct of transformational leadership and that there is little evidence to support the contention that the MLQ measures distinct transformational leader behaviours.