6 OPERATIONALIZING STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP
6.1 INTRODUCTION
This chapter describes the development and internal validation of an instrument to measure strategic
leadership. The following sections outline the undertaken steps of development of the scale (DeVellis,
1991), consisting of item generation, content expert validation, and a pilot study in order to test the
factorial structure of the measurement instrument, a sequence which is often used when developing
and constructing items (e.g. (MacKenzie et al., 1991; Mayfield et al., 1995; Podsakoff et al., 1990).
The following contains a sequential elaboration of the methodologies that have been used and the
resulting findings. An exploratory factor analysis was used to establish the factorial structure of the
measurement instrument. The last two analytical steps included in this study, were testing the
interrater agreement amongst ratees and the internal reliability of the multi-item scales. On the basis
of these three tests (factorial structure, interrater agreement and internal reliability), one could
conclude whether the instrument was reliable and valid (enough) to proceed and to be used in
subsequent studies.
6.2 METHOD
6.2.1 SAMPLE
The sample for this study consisted of 80 focal managers drawn from an international engineering
organization. The object of study was the focal manager working in an engineering organization, for
ZKRP³OHDGHUVKLSKDGEHFRPHDQRUPDWLYHH[SHFWDWLRQGHPDQGRUSUDFWLFH ́(Carroll & Levy, 2008,
p.77; Sveningsson & Larsson, 2006). According to the logic of 360-degree feedback, the 80 focal
managers were asked to distribute a survey amongst their superior, peers an subordinates.
Confidentiality was assured for peer and subordinate raters. The response rate was 100%. As a result,
the survey included 513 raters on 80 focal managers. The total rater group consisted of 82 superiors,
202 peers and 229 subordinates. Hence the focal managers were rated on average by 6.41 raters, i.e.
1.03 superior, 2.53 peers and 2.86 subordinates.
Regretfully, demographic data was only collected from the focal managers. The typical profile of the
80 focal managers waVPDOHKDYLQJD0DVWHU¶VGHJUHHKDYLQJVWXGLHG Engineering, Economics or
Business Administration, having between 4 to 19 years of management experience and organizational
tenure. As for organizational level, the sample was spread over organizational levels, i.e. 9 top-level
managers (11%), 16 middle-level managers (20%), 35 lower-level managers (44%) and 20 staff
members (25%).