Succession Leadership: A Scale Development Study

• In Event: Expanding the Ways of Understanding Educational Leadership

Abstract

This article presents a scale development research with 4 sub-studies for the development and validation of measures for the dimensions of principal succession leadership. We started with literature review and interviews to identify 5 potential dimensions and 24 sub dimensions (study 1). The initial item pool was analyzed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with samples of 262 and 218 principals in China, resulting in 4-factor model (study 2). Using a sample of 259 principals, we further verified our 14-item scale with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) (study 3). To establish convergent and discriminant evidence of the scale, an additional sample of 246 principals was recruited (study 4). The results suggest that succession leadership is a multidimensional construct and makes a unique contribution.

Authors

• Yulian Zheng, Guizhou Normal University

• Jiafang Lu, The Education University of Hong Kong

• Jianjing Tang, The Education University of Hong Kong

• Yifeng Chen, Lingnan University