Character strengths in leadership

Abstract

This dissertation contains three sequential studies that use a mixed-methods approach. The first study involved qualitative interviews with 29 individuals using the critical incident technique (Flanagan, 1949) and Peterson and Seligman's (2004) conceptualization of character strengths to understand what leader-demonstrated character strengths look like in the workplace. The outcome of this study was a 27 item measure of Character Strengths in Leadership. The second study's purpose was to test the reliability and validity of a newly developed Character Strengths in Leadership scale by comparing character strengths-based leadership against other known measures of leadership (the MLQ, Authentic Leadership, Ethical Leadership, Passive Leadership, and Abusive Supervision). These surveys were administered to a North American snowball sample of 270 individuals. Exploratory factor analysis suggests that character strengths-based leadership is a three-dimensional construct that can be differentiated from other known measures of leadership. The third study tested a 14 item Character Strengths in Leadership questionnaire against organizational and personal outcome measures (organizational citizenship behaviours, affective commitment, affect, and psychological health). Structural Equation Modeling using confirmatory factor analysis and observed variable path analysis was used to develop and test a model of character strengths in leadership. The resulting structural model provided a strong fit and supported hypotheses regarding both work-based and individual-level outcomes. Implications for the findings and follow-up research are discussed.