Develop and validate a bifactor African leadership scale: Integrating emic and etic constructs

Abstract

Orientation: Leadership is complex, context-specific and difficult to measure because of the lack of a universal definition.
Research purpose: This study aims to develop a nuanced, valid and reliable instrument for measuring African leadership, specifically within a South African context.
Motivation for the study: Leadership is inseparable from context and should be studied accordingly. African leadership studies, particularly those using an emic (culturally grounded) approach, remain scarce.
Research approach/design and method: A quantitative research design within a positivist paradigm was employed. Four relational leadership instruments, two etic (authentic and transformational leadership) and two emic (Ubuntu and organisational leadership), were integrated. A total of 1680 participants from 28 organisations were purposively selected. An exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), along with bifactor analysis, were conducted to assess the dimensionality of the African Leadership Scale (ALS).
Main findings: This study suggested a bifactor model for the ALS, consisting of the African team leadership, Adverse African leadership (negative construct) and Authentic African leadership subfactors, being the best-fitting model. This model allowed each item to load onto a general leadership factor and one of three subfactors, a nuanced, multi-dimensional understanding of African leadership.
Practical/managerial implications: This study provides a valid and reliable instrument for measuring African leadership. The use of the bifactor analysis (with the traditional EFA and CFA) contributes on methodological level to future leadership research.
Contribution/value-add: This research bridges culturally embedded leadership constructs with universally recognised frameworks, enhancing the contextual relevance and theoretical robustness of the conceptualisation of leadership in Africa.