Abstract

HENDRIKZ, Karen  and  ENGELBRECHT, Amos S.. The principled leadership scale: An integration of value-based leadership. SA j. ind. Psychol. [online]. 2019, vol.45, n.1, pp.1-10. ISSN 2071-0763.  http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/sajip.v45i0.1553.

ORIENTATION: A need exists to investigate leader behaviour necessary to curb the corruption that has infected and weakened South Africa's moral fibre. Such leader behaviour would need to be underpinned by a set of universal moral values. RESEARCH PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to develop a new measure, the principled leadership scale (PLS), by integrating the value-based behaviours inherent in transformational, servant, authentic and ethical leadership. MOTIVATION FOR THE STUDY: Leader behaviour intrinsic to value-based leadership was found to be closely aligned with universal moral values. Because the study found a considerable overlap between the behaviours mentioned in the value-based leadership theories, it sought to integrate these behaviours under one construct and to develop a reliable and valid scale to assess this construct. RESEARCH APPROACH/DESIGN AND METHOD: Data from the quantitative study were analysed by means of item analysis, exploratory and confirmatory bi-factor analysis conducted via structural equation modelling. MAIN FINDINGS: The confirmatory bi-factor solution corroborated a strong general principled leadership factor and four moderately weak group factors. The statistical analyses provided good fit of the PLS measurement model with the empirical data. PRACTICAL AND MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS: The study found acceptable measurement properties of the PLS that may be used for applications, such as the selecting, training and developing of ethical leadership in organisations. CONTRIBUTION/VALUE-ADD: The study adds value in that it is the first to integrate the four value-based leadership theories under one construct and to develop a potential psychometrically sound instrument to measure principled leadership.

Keywords : Ethical leadership; value-based leadership; principled leadership; authentic leadership; servant leadership; transformational leadership; confirmatory bi-factor analysis.

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