Leading towards inclusiveness: developing a measurement instrument for inclusive leadership

Abstract

To date there is no clear understanding of which leadership behaviours are needed for developing an inclusive workplace. This paper conceptualizes inclusive leadership and develops this into a comprehensive measurement scale that can be used in quantitative studies to empirically assess the link between inclusive leadership and organizational inclusiveness. Inclusive leadership involves stimulating cognitive processes that enable individuals to express their uniqueness while, at the same time, support affective processes that foster a shared team identity and individuals’ feelings of belongingness. Measurement items are developed from a theoretical framework and validated through cognitive interviews with different groups of public employees and experts on survey research. The survey was distributed among employees of four Dutch public organizations (N= 304). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses show that inclusive leadership indeed consists of two factors, namely a cognitive and affective dimension. Inclusive leadership involves encouraging diverse team members to value, exchange, discuss and learn from their different backgrounds, perspectives and ideas. The measurement instrument can be used to examine how inclusive leadership can contribute to a climate of inclusion, and affect team outcomes. Limitations of this study are related to the cross-sectional data that was used for both explorative and confirmative validity tests. Future research to test linkages between inclusive leadership, inclusive climate, and performance is proposed.