The purpose of this study is to examine the validity of the Leadership Practices Inventory. Previous research has used exploratory factor analysis and internal consistency for this sort of analysis without specifying the validity for a specific group or sample. We propose to use confirmatory factor analysis — via structural equation modelling — of responses from police officers from around the country. This type of analysis will allow us to determine if the factors of the Leadership Practices Inventory provide valid measures of police leadership performance as an assessment tool. We determined that the measures were indeed valid and that differences of opinion existed between the police managers assessed and their observers regarding their perceived performance under the Leadership Challenge Model.
AdamsT.KleinM. (2002). Leadership practices and effectiveness among Greek student leaders. College Student Journal, 34, 259–270.
2.
ArchambeaultW.WeirmanC. (1983). Critically assessing the utility of police bureaucracies in the 1980s. Journal of Police Science and Administration, 11, 420–429.
3.
BakerT. E. (2006). Effective police leadership: Moving beyond management. Flushing, NY: Looseleaf Law Publications.
4.
BollenK. A. (1989). Structural equation modeling with latent variables. Wiley Series in Probability and Mathematical Statistics. New York: Wiley.
5.
BrunsG. H.ShumanI. G. (1988). Police managers' perception of organizational leadership styles. Public Personnel Management, 17, 145–157.
6.
ByrneB. M. (1998). Structural equation modeling with LISREL, PRELIS, and SIMPLIS: Basic, concepts, applications, and programming. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
7.
DenstenI. L. (2003). Senior police leadership: Does rank matter?Policing, 26, 400–418.
8.
DobbyJ.AnscombeJ.TuffinR. (2004). Police leadership: Expectations and impact. London: Home Office.
9.
GirodoM. (1998). Machiavellian, bureaucratic, and transformational leadership styles in police managers: Preliminary findings of interpersonal ethics. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 86, 419–427.
10.
HaberfeldM. R. (2006). Police leadership. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
11.
HatcherL. (1994). A step-by-step approach to using SAS for factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Cary, NC: SAS Institute.
12.
HickmanM. J.ReevesB. A. (2006). Local police departments, 2003. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics.
13.
HuL.BentlerP. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6, 1–55.
KuykendallJ.UnsingerP. (1982). The leadership styles of police managers. Journal of Criminal Justice, 10, 311–321.
20.
MayoL. A. (1985). Leading blindly: An assessment of chiefs' information about police operations. In GellerW.A. (Ed.), Police leadership in America (pp. 397–417). New York: Praeger.
21.
MurphyS. A.DrodgeE. N. (2004). The four I's of police leadership: A case study heuristic. International Journal of Police Science and Management, 6, 1–15.
22.
NunnallyJ.Bernstein (1994). Psychometric theory. New York, NY: McGraw Hill Companies.
23.
PosnerB. Z. (2004, July/August). A leadership development instrument for students: Updated. Journal of College Student Development, 1–11.
24.
PosnerB. Z.BrodskyB. (1994). Leadership practices of effective student leaders: Gender makes no difference. NASPA Journal, 31, 113–120.
RaykovT.MarcoulidesG. A. (2006). A first course in structural equation modeling (2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
27.
RoweM. (2006). Following the leader: Front-line narratives on police leadership. Policing, 29, 757–767.
28.
StamperN. H. (1992). Removing managerial barriers to effective police leadership: A study of executive leadership and executive management in big-city police departments. Washington, DC: Police Executive Research Forum.
29.
VilliersP. (2003). Philosophy, doctrine and leadership: Some core beliefs. In AdlamR.VilliersP. (Eds.), Police leadership in the twenty-first century: Philosophy, doctrine and developments (pp. 15–33). Winchester, UK: Waterside Press.
