Psychometric properties of Authentic Leadership Self-Assessment Questionnaire in a population-based sample of Polish nurses.

AIM: The purpose of the study was to adapt and evaluate the psychometric characteristics of the Polish language version of the Authentic Leadership Self-Assessment Questionnaire (ALSAQ) intended for use among registered nurses.

DESIGN: A cross-sectional study where the ALSAQ was administered to a representative group of 3,299 Polish registered nurses was carried out between September and November 2017.

METHODS: Linguistic-cultural adaptation of the ALSAQ was carried out according to the WHO guidelines. The following psychometric properties of the ALSAQ were evaluated: content validity (content validity index), theoretical relevance (exploratory and confirmative factor analysis), unidimensionality of subscales (principal component analysis), internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha), test-retest reliability and criterion validity.

FINDINGS: The content validity analysis revealed a need to reduce the original ALSAQ version from 16 to 13 items. The factor structure of ALSAQ differed from the original version. A three-factor model was better fitted to the data than a four-factor model. The three distinguished subscales (moral processing, self-awareness and relational transparency) were characterised by unidimensionality. ALSAQ has a good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha 0.84) and test-retest analysis confirmed stability of the measurement for subscales and particular items. Moreover, the ALSAQ-P criterion validity with external variables, being of key importance for shaping the leadership skills (self-efficacy and universal moral foundations) was confirmed.

CONCLUSIONS: Authentic leadership skills in nursing practice are characterised by their individual specificity, which was indicated in the ALSAQ validation. The ALSAQ can be considered a reliable and valid tool for self-assessment of leadership skills in a group of nursing practitioners. The identified standards help measuring strengths and weaknesses of authentic leadership. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.