Development and initial validation of an indirect measure of transformational leadership integrity

Abstract

An indirect measure of transformational leadership integrity was developed across three studies. In Study 1, the transformational leadership integrity implicit association test (TLI-IAT) was developed and tested with 65 leaders across heterogeneous organizational contexts. Study 2 involved 51 coaches from 18 sports. Results from Studies 1 and 2 supported the construct validity of the instrument, providing evidence of the instrument’s convergent and discriminant validity. Study 3 involved 32 coaches and 133 players from six sports. Findings supported the criterion validity of the measure, providing evidence for the instrument’s predictive validity. In sum, evidence is presented that supports the TLI-IATs construct and criterion validity. As such, the present research has made significant advancements to the transformational leadership integrity literature and provides researchers with an indirect measure of automatic transformational leadership integrity self-attitudes.