Refining the short version of the Leadership Scale for Sports: factorial validation and measurement invariance

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the factorial validity and measurement invariance of the short version of the Leadership Scale for Sports (LSS; Chelladurai & Saleh, 1980): coaches’ perceptions of their own behavior, athletes’ preferences and athletes’ perceptions of their coaches’ behavior. This validation will allow researchers to minimize time demands on participants. Three independent samples of athletes (n1 = 373; n2 = 817; n3 = 246) and two samples of coaches (n1 = 115; n2 = 351) were studied to examine the factorial validity and measurement invariance of the 25-item version of the LSS (LSS-25; Chiu et al., 2016). Findings indicated that a 15-item version (LSS-15) fits the data better than the LSS-25. The LSS-15 showed factorial validity and proved to have adequate reliability, convergent validity and discriminant validity. Multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis showed that its factor structure was invariant across two independent samples and across gender for athletes’ perceived and preferred versions. Significant relationships between the LSS-15 subscales and athlete satisfaction also demonstrate criterion validity. These findings support a valid and reliable alternative to the original LSS long-form, especially in applied settings when time constraints require a brief measure of leadership or when study designs include multiple variables.