The Development of ABRAVE Model and Measure of Leadership

James Serpesedes

Contemporary research on leadership has highlighted the integral role of cognition, suggesting that good leaders display a capacity for thinking rationally and constructively. Existing measures of leadership have not adequately captured behaviours that are associated with rational and constructive thinking, which may represent active ingredients of effective leadership as outlined by the Cognitive Experiential Leadership Model (CELM; Cerni et al., 2014). The current dissertation aimed to develop a new model of leadership integrating tenets of the CELM with existing research on transformational leadership encompassed by the Full Range Leadership Theory (Avolio & Bass, 1991). The newly conceptualised ABRAVE model proposes that effective leaders are Authentic, Balanced, Rational, Action-Oriented, Visionary, and Empathetic. In operationalising this theory, the present research developed a 360-degree assessment measure reflecting the six factors of the ABRAVE model. Following a review of existing leadership literature and associated psychometric measures, a preliminary item pool for the ABRAVE measure was developed. Study 1 outlines the initial stage of scale refinement, with subject matter expert review undertaken to inform a refined item pool of the measure. Study 2 subsequently presented the refined item pool to a developmental sample (N = 1124), alongside existing measures of transformational leadership and thinking styles. Exploratory factor analyses and correlational analyses revealed a seven-factor structure that was significantly associated with the established measures of leadership and thinking styles. Study 3 involved testing the item pool derived from the preceding study with a new developmental sample (N = 328), to confirm the ABRAVE subscales independently and determine whether they were reliable and valid. The findings derived from confirmatory factor analyses and correlational analyses revealed six factors of effective leadership comprising 18 total items (3 for each subscale), consistent with the ABRAVE model. The ABRAVE-18 measure demonstrated good model fit, acceptable levels of internal consistency and sound validity for both leader and follower forms. The results of the present research represent a promising contribution to transformational leadership literature and may be used to guide leadership identification and development moving forward.

The Development of ABRAVE Model and Measure of Leadership

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