Authentic Leadership and Employee Trust During COVID-19–Measurement Model

Abstract

The Authentic Leadership and Employee Trust During COVID-19—Measurement Model was developed by Zheng, Dong, and Zhang (2024) to systematically investigate the complex relationship between authentic leadership and key employee outcomes during the intense period of the COVID-19 pandemic. This 19-item psychological instrument specifically focuses on how the core attributes of authentic leadership influence both employee trust and the fit between employees and their organizations (employee-organization fit).

The research utilized items adapted from established previous studies (e.g., Neider & Schriesheim, 2011; Rego et al., 2022; Ausar et al., 2016) to construct a robust measurement model. The scale was administered to a sample of US employees. Comprehensive psychometric testing was conducted, providing evidence for the model’s factor structure, high internal consistency, and satisfactory validity, while also exploring how these effects might be moderated by employee gender and position level.

Keywords

Authentic Leadership, Employee Trust, Organizational Fit, COVID-19, Measurement Model, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Internal Consistency, Organizational Behavior

Authors

Zheng, Qi, Dong, Chuqing, Zhang, Yafei

Purpose

The primary purpose of this measurement model is to provide a validated tool for assessing the nuanced impacts of authentic leadership behaviors on employee attitudes and perceptions, specifically focusing on employee trust within the context of significant organizational disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Beyond measuring the direct relationship, the study aimed to explore secondary effects, such as the influence of authentic leadership on employee-organization fit and the exploration of boundary conditions, including how the observed relationships differed based on demographic variables like employee gender and organizational status or position level.

Construct

The measurement model is designed to capture and interrelate two primary psychological constructs: Authentic Leadership and Employee Trust.

• Authentic Leadership: This construct is operationalized through four core components, which were subjected to Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA): self-awareness, relational transparency, balanced processing, and internalized moral perspective. These components collectively define leaders who are true to themselves and their values, fostering transparency and ethical decision-making.

• Employee Trust: This construct measures the willingness of employees to be vulnerable to the actions of the leader or the organization, based on the expectation that the leader or organization will perform a particular action important to the trustor, irrespective of the ability to monitor or control the leader or organization.

The model also implicitly measures Employee-Organization Fit, which is crucial for understanding the overall positive outcomes of authentic leadership beyond simple trust metrics.

Validity

The study provided strong evidence supporting both the convergent and discriminant validity of the measurement model across all included constructs.

• Convergent Validity: This form of validity was deemed satisfactory. It was established by ensuring that the factor loadings for all constructs exceeded the commonly accepted threshold of 0.5. High factor loadings indicate that the items are closely related to the latent constructs they are intended to measure.

• Discriminant Validity: The ability of the constructs to measure distinct concepts was assessed using the Chi-square difference approach. The measurement model was compared against two alternative, more restrictive models. The statistical results provided acceptable evidence for discriminant validity, although some model fit indices in the comparison models indicated room for improvement (Alternative Model 1: χ2(152) = 2201.2, p < 0.001, CFI = 0.72, RMSEA = 0.18; Alternative Model 2: χ2(158) = 2038.5, p < 0.001, CFI = 0.74, RMSEA = 0.17).

Reliability

The reliability of the measurement model was assessed using standard internal consistency metrics, demonstrating the stability and homogeneity of the items within each scale.

Internal Consistency: The results indicated excellent internal consistency across all constructs measured. Both Cronbach’s alpha coefficients and Composite Reliability (CR) values were reported to be above 0.8. This high standard suggests that the items within the Authentic Leadership and Employee Trust scales consistently measure the same underlying concepts.

Factor Analysis

A rigorous Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was performed to evaluate the fit of the proposed measurement structure to the observed data.

The CFA included six key constructs: the four dimensions of authentic leadership (self-awareness, relational transparency, balanced processing, internalized moral perspective), employee-organization fit, and trust. The results demonstrated a good overall fit for the proposed measurement model, supporting the hypothesized relationships and distinctions between the constructs. Key model fit indices were reported as: χ2(137) = 436.7, p < 0.001, SRMR = 0.04, NNFI = 0.95, TLI = 0.95, CFI = 0.96, and RMSEA = 0.07. These values, particularly the CFI (Comparative Fit Index) above 0.95 and RMSEA (Root Mean Square Error of Approximation) below 0.08, confirm that the model structure accurately represents the collected data.

Instrument

Test Type: Inventory/Questionnaire

Format: 19 items utilizing a seven-point Likert scale.

Language Available: English (Original administration to US employees)

Population Group: Working adults/Employees

Age Group: Not explicitly specified, assumed 18+

Population Details: Administered to US employees across various organizations and position levels during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Test Methodology: Test Validity, Convergent Validity, Discriminant Validity, Test Reliability, Internal Consistency, Factor Analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Measurement Model

Keywords

Leadership, Organizational Psychology, Employee-Organization Fit, Psychometrics, Scale Development, Self-Awareness, Relational Transparency

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Dong, Chuqing: ORCID: 0000-0003-1522-7577

Affiliation Email addresses: Dong, Chuqing: [email protected]

Correspondence Address: Correspondence is primarily directed through the institutional affiliations listed: Michigan State University (Zheng, Dong) and Renmin University of China (Zhang).

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions and Fees: Standard academic permissions apply to the use of the scale for non-commercial research purposes, as published in an academic journal. Users should consult the original publication for specific usage guidelines. No explicit fee structure is mentioned.

Test Year: 2024

Reference’s

• Zheng, Q., Dong, C., & Zhang, Y. (2024). When relational transparency backfires: Examining the various impacts of authentic leadership on employee trust during the COVID-19 pandemic. Corporate Communications, 29(3), 430–450. https://doi.org/10.1108/CCIJ-05-2023-0066

Items of the Authentic Leadership and Employee Trust During COVID-19–Measurement Model

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

• Number of Items: 19
• Rating Scale: Seven-point Likert scale