PERCEIVED LEADER INTEGRITY SCALE - AN INSTRUMENT FOR ASSESSING EMPLOYEE PERCEPTIONS OF LEADER INTEGRITY

Little empirical research has investigated the role of leaders' ethica l integrity in their effectiveness. This may be due, in part, to the u navailability of sound measurement instruments designed for use in thi s area. The present research provided a partial remedy for this proble m by developing and initially validating a new instrument, called the Perceived Leader Integrity Scale (PLIS). In both a student sample and an organizational field sample, the PLIS demonstrated high internal co nsistency (Cronbach's alpha > .97) and expected patterns of correlatio n with other variables. In the organizational sample, factor analysis indicated a unidimensional factor structure. Analyses based on item re sponse theory (IRT) indicated that the PLIS generates estimates of res pondents' standing on the perceived leader integrity construct (theta) with standard errors as low as .08. Implications for further study of perceived leader integrity were discussed.