To Lead a Team: Construct Validity Evidence for Team Leadership in the High-Tech Industry
Two studies were conducted to gather evidence of construct validity for functions of team leadership. The research built on a continuing line of background research. Three hundred and thirty-seven team leaders from sixty-three companies in the manufacturing electronics industry participated in the studies and completed surveys. Four types of validity evidence were examined: content, criterion-related, convergent, and discriminant. Content validity evidence was demonstrated in Study 1. The overwhelming majority of team leaders perFormed the proposed functions and rated them as important. A confirmatory analysis did not indicate a parsimonious fit among the seven functions that were generated from background research and from an integration of team and leadership literature. An exploratory analysis, however, did demonstrate a structure that corresponded to the twenty activities associated with the seven functions. Each factor related to these activities was transformed into a scale. Nine of the sixteen resulting scales were included in Study 2. Study 2 examined criterion-related, convergent, and discriminant validity evidence. Strong support was shown for the criterion-related propositions. These propositions included relationships between the team leader activities and other variables related to organizational functioning. Strong evidence for discriminant validity was also found. The team leader scales did not relate to variables that were outside the nomological net. In contrast, only partial evidence for convergent validity was demonstrated. Overall, initial support for the existence, importance, and validity of the team leader functions and activities was found. Methodological limitations and implications for future research were discussed.
Validity, Team ledership, Industrial and Organizational Psychology
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