Psychometric Characteristics of the Serbian Version of the Ethical Leadership at Work Questionnaire (ELW-RS)

Nikola  Goljović

doi:10.19090/pp.v18i2.2550

Authors

Nikola Goljović Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš, Niš, Serbia https://orcid.org/0009-0008-2877-9884

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.19090/pp.v18i2.2550

Keywords:

ethical leadership, ELW, CFA, invariance, seven-dimensional model

Abstract

The aim of this study was to adapt the Ethical Leadership at Work Scale (ELW) into Serbian as a self-report measure for subordinates to evaluate their managers, to examine the construct validity of this new version, and to test the level of invariance across gender and organizational sector within the Serbian version (ELW-SR). The sample consisted of 306 participants with at least six months of work experience, predominantly female (72.50%), aged between 20 and 63 years, mostly highly educated, and primarily employed on a permanent basis in the private sector (74.80%). The analysis confirmed that ELW-SR adequately reflects all dimensions of the original scale: people orientation, fairness, power sharing, concern for sustainability, ethical guidance, role clarification, and integrity. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that a seven-dimensional solution with correlated residuals provides a good fit (χ²=, df=; CFI = .92, TLI = .91, RMSEA = .07, and SRMR = .10), thereby affirming the validity of the Serbian version of the scale. However, the study points to the need for caution in generalizing results, particularly concerning variables such as gender and type of organization, where the assumptions of invariance were not unequivocally confirmed. Additionally, the scale's criterion validity was tested to examine how well the test results predict relevant outcomes related to ethical leadership, such as job satisfaction, psychological safety, and self-efficacy. These findings imply that ELW-SR can be an effective tool for assessing ethical leadership in the Serbian business context.

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References

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