Purpose 1:
First and foremost, this study aimed at expanding the strategic leadership measurement on the basis of
an expert panel and subsequently confirming the factors as identified in the previous explorative
study, i.e. the factors 1) Business development, 2) Operational efficiency 3) Client centricity, 4)
Organizational creativity (section 7.2). An expert panel was employed in order to test whether the 16
items (identified in the previous chapter) fully covered the four strategic leadership dimensions. On
the basis of their feedback the model was expanded. Subsequently, confirmatory factor analysis
(CFA) was used in order to test the fit of the hypothesized factor structure to the observed covariance
structure (Henson & Roberts, 2006). CFA is the preferred analysis method if theory underlies the
measured constructs (Thompson, 2004), which was the case in this study. The sample used (which
was a different sample than used in the previous chapter) consisted of 158 focal managers across
organizational levels. These focal managers were drawn from different industries ranging from hi-tech
to public sector organizations.
Purpose 2:
Second, while the shift from supervisory to strategic leadership has been occasionally described as a
move to transformational leadership (Alimo-Metcalfe & Alban-Metcalfe, 2001), the primary level of
analysis of transformational leadership is the leader-follower dyad, considering downward influence
of the manager in authority (Yukl, 1999a). Strategic leadership, in contrast is conceptualized as
leadership of organizational processes. This theoretical difference needs to be confirmed empirically,
hence an exploratory analysis was conducted in order to determine whether the items underlying
transformational leadership load on different factors than the items underlying strategic leadership.
Purpose 3:
And thirdly, an aim of this study was to gain insight into the manifestation of leadership behavior
across different organizational levels. Strategic leadership has been considered the responsibility of
top-level managers. However, authors such as Mintzberg (1980) and Huy (2002) emphasized the
essential role of middle managers connecting executives at the top with customers, markets and
operational realities. Other authors likewise advocate the need for strategic leadership at all
organizational levels (Hitt & Ireland, 2002, p.4) hinting at the contemporary normative expectation
that lower-level managers should manifest strategic leadership behavior. Including organizational
level as an antecedent of strategic leadership was not only warranted from the perspective of
contemporary normative expectations. Another reason was the expectation that the relationship
between leadership and organizational level was different for strategic leadership than for