The Perceived Leadership Communication Questionnaire (PLCQ): Development and Validation

ABSTRACT

The Perceived Leadership Communication Questionnaire (PLCQ) is a short, reliable, and valid instrument for measuring leadership communication from both perspectives of the leader and the follower. Drawing on a communication-based approach to leadership and following a theoretical framework of interpersonal communication processes in organizations, this article describes the development and validation of a one-dimensional 6-item scale in four studies (total N = 604). Results from Study 1 and 2 provide evidence for the internal consistency and factorial validity of the PLCQ's self-rating version (PLCQ-SR)—a version for measuring how leaders perceive their own communication with their followers. Results from Study 3 and 4 show internal consistency, construct validity, and criterion validity of the PLCQ's other-rating version (PLCQ-OR)—a version for measuring how followers perceive the communication of their leaders. Cronbach's α had an average of.80 over the four studies. All confirmatory factor analyses yielded good to excellent model fit indices. Convergent validity was established by average positive correlations of.69 with subdimensions of transformational leadership and leader–member exchange scales. Furthermore, nonsignificant correlations with socially desirable responding indicated discriminant validity. Last, criterion validity was supported by a moderately positive correlation with job satisfaction (r =.31).

Keywords:

• communication
• leadership
• scale construction
• scale validation

Notes

The final six-item scale included five of the newly developed items, and one item, Item 1, was inspired by the second item of the Communicator Competence Questionnaire by Monge et al. (1982). See Appendix.

In all four studies, established ethical standards were met. Each participant was informed about the purpose of the study and about the way the data is protected (data protection fact sheet), responded voluntarily, and anonymously sent back the questionnaire in a business reply envelope.

Due to the small number of items and the heterogeneous content of different socially desirable behaviors in different contexts low Cronbach's alphas are not surprising (cf. Cortina, 1993; John & Soto, 2007; Schmitt, 1996).

Removing items due to high correlations with IM might reduce content validity of the leadership self-rating as well as convergent validity (e.g., correlations with conscientiousness or agreeableness). The same should be true for SDE. Thus, items were not eliminated (cf. Pauls & Stemmler, 2003).

Rafferty and Griffin (2004) adapted items from House (1998) and Podsakoff et al. (1990). Examples are “Has a clear understanding of where we are going” (TL-V) or “Acknowledges improvement in my quality of work” (TL-PR).