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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Organizational Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1541891

Factorial Validity and Measurement Invariance of a Self-reported Scale of Paradoxical Leadership Behaviours: Evidence from Sport Industry Leaders

Provisionally accepted
Matthew Bourke Matthew Bourke 1John Cairney John Cairney 1*Veronique Richard Veronique Richard 1Samanatha Mulcahy Samanatha Mulcahy 1Chris Moos Chris Moos 2Sue Dopson Sue Dopson 2
  • 1 The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
  • 2 Saïd Business School, Social Sciences Division, University of Oxford, Oxford, England, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Organisational leaders across all sectors are often faced with a dynamic, unpredictable and complex business landscape. Understanding leadership style is integral to optimising leadership and organisational culture and performance. One such leadership style that warrants further investigation is Paradoxical Leadership. This study examines the factorial validity and measurement invariance of a self-report version of the Paradoxical Leadership Scale (PLS; Zhang et al., 2014) among a diverse sample of sport industry leaders. These sport industry leaders (n=345) provided a platform to explore paradoxical leadership in a seldomexamined sector. Participants were recruited through an online campaign, partnering with the sports media company, SportsPro. Factorial validity of the self-reported PLS was examined using Exploratory Structural Equation Modelling (ESEM), and measurement invariance testing was conducted using Multiple Indicator Multiple Causes (MIMIC) modelling across demographic and contextual factors. Results confirmed the second-order five-factor model as the best fit, with partial deviations in item loadings but maintaining overall structural integrity. The scale showed full invariance across managerial levels, experience, gender, and regions, with partial invariance across age groups, indicating its robust applicability. This is the first study to explore the factorial validity and measurement invariance of a modified, self-report scale measuring paradoxical leadership behaviours in a diverse sample of sport leaders. The findings support the use of this scale for both research and practical application in this context. Further research applying this scale across sectors is recommended.

    Keywords: paradoxes, Leadership style, factorial validity FACTORIAL VALIDITY, self-report, Sport industry

    Received: 08 Dec 2024; Accepted: 03 Feb 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Bourke, Cairney, Richard, Mulcahy, Moos and Dopson. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: John Cairney, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.