Volume 91, Issue 4 p. 697-728
Original Article

Identity leadership going global: Validation of the Identity Leadership Inventory across 20 countries

Rolf van Dick

Corresponding Author

Rolf van Dick

Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany

AFI, Oslo, Norway

Correspondence should be addressed to Rolf van Dick, Department of Social Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Theodor-W.-Adorno-Platz 6, 60323 Frankfurt, Germany (email: [email protected]).Search for more papers by this author
Jérémy E. Lemoine

Jérémy E. Lemoine

University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, France

ESCP Europe Business School, London, UK

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Niklas K. Steffens

Niklas K. Steffens

University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia

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Rudolf Kerschreiter

Rudolf Kerschreiter

Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

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Serap Arslan Akfirat

Serap Arslan Akfirat

Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey

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Lorenzo Avanzi

Lorenzo Avanzi

Trento University, Italy

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Kitty Dumont

Kitty Dumont

University of South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa

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Olga Epitropaki

Olga Epitropaki

Durham University Business School, UK

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Katrien Fransen

Katrien Fransen

KU Leuven, Belgium

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Steffen Giessner

Steffen Giessner

Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

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Roberto González

Roberto González

Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Santiago, Chile

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Ronit Kark

Ronit Kark

Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

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Jukka Lipponen

Jukka Lipponen

University of Helsinki, Finland

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Yannis Markovits

Yannis Markovits

Ministry of Finance, Thessaloniki, Greece

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Lucas Monzani

Lucas Monzani

Ivey Business School, London, Ontario, Canada

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Gábor Orosz

Gábor Orosz

Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary

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Diwakar Pandey

Diwakar Pandey

Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal

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Christine Roland-Lévy

Christine Roland-Lévy

University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, France

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Sebastian Schuh

Sebastian Schuh

China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), Shanghai, China

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Tomoki Sekiguchi

Tomoki Sekiguchi

Kyoto University, Japan

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Lynda Jiwen Song

Lynda Jiwen Song

Renmin University of China, Beijing, China

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Jeroen Stouten

Jeroen Stouten

KU Leuven, Belgium

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Srinivasan Tatachari

Srinivasan Tatachari

T A Pai Management Institute, Manipal, Karnataka, India

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Daniel Valdenegro

Daniel Valdenegro

Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Santiago, Chile

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Lisanne van Bunderen

Lisanne van Bunderen

Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

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Viktor Vörös

Viktor Vörös

Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary

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Sut I. Wong

Sut I. Wong

BI Norwegian Business School, Oslo, Norway

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Xin-an Zhang

Xin-an Zhang

Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

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S. Alexander Haslam

S. Alexander Haslam

University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia

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First published: 18 May 2018
Citations: 98

Abstract

Recent theorizing applying the social identity approach to leadership proposes a four-dimensional model of identity leadership that centres on leaders’ management of a shared sense of ‘we’ and ‘us’. This research validates a scale assessing this model – the Identity Leadership Inventory (ILI). We present results from an international project with data from all six continents and from more than 20 countries/regions with 5,290 participants. The ILI was translated (using back-translation methods) into 13 different languages (available in the Appendix S1) and used along with measures of other leadership constructs (i.e., leader–member exchange [LMX], transformational leadership, and authentic leadership) as well as employee attitudes and (self-reported) behaviours – namely identification, trust in the leader, job satisfaction, innovative work behaviour, organizational citizenship behaviour, and burnout. Results provide consistent support for the construct, discriminant, and criterion validity of the ILI across countries. We show that the four dimensions of identity leadership are distinguishable and that they relate to important work-related attitudes and behaviours above and beyond other leadership constructs. Finally, we also validate a short form of the ILI, noting that is likely to have particular utility in applied contexts.

Practitioner points

  • The Identity Leadership Inventory (ILI) has a consistent factor structure and high predictive value across 20 countries and can thus be used to assess a leader's ability to manage (team and organizational) identities in a range of national and cultural contexts.
  • Identity leadership as perceived by employees is uniquely related to important indicators of leadership effectiveness including employees’ relationship to their team (identification and perceived team support), well-being (job satisfaction and reduced burnout), and performance (citizenship and innovative behaviour at work).
  • The ILI can be used in practical settings to assess and develop leadership, for instance, in 360-degree feedback systems.
  • The short form of the ILI is also a valid assessment of identity leadership, and this is likely to be useful in a range of applied contexts (e.g., those where there is a premium on cost and time or when comparing multiple leaders or multiple time points).