Internal characteristics of the leadership behavior description questionnaire form-12

Abstract

The present study sought to demonstrate that.the internal characteristics of the LBDQ-12 are moderated by the leadership situation which is sampled. It is proposed that the LBDQ-12 is reliable and appropriate for use only to the extent that the leadership context provides a sampling of the same leader behaviors which are included as items in the initiating structure and consideration scales. To this end, two populations were sampled; ROTC cadets and college classroom students, who differed greatly with respect to the leadership situation. Several analyses were undertaken: item analysis, internal consistency reliability, between leader differences, and factor analyses. These analyses determined that consideration leader behavior is consistent across samples but that initiating structure is inconsistently perceived by respondents across samples. The concept of behavior latitude restriction by the organization was proposed as an explanation of the results. Implications of the results suggest that these LBDQ-12 scales are not applicable to different situations and should not be compared as if they were always relevant in all leadership situations.