Toxic Leadership Scale (Schmidt)
LeadershipReliability: alpha 0.933 sample items
About this scale
A 30-item measure of toxic leadership across five dimensions: abusive supervision, authoritarian leadership, narcissism, self-promotion, and unpredictability.
Sample item(s)
“My supervisor publicly belittles subordinates (abusive)”
“My supervisor takes credit for my work (self-promotion)”
“My supervisor's mood determines how my day will go (unpredictability)”
Reliability
Reported internal consistency: alpha 0.93. As a rule of thumb, Cronbach’s α ≥ .70 is considered acceptable, ≥ .80 good, and ≥ .90 excellent for established measures.
Notes
Free for academic use; combines several dark-leadership constructs.
Source & citation
Schmidt, A. A. (2008): Development and validation of the Toxic Leadership Scale (Master's thesis). University of Maryland.
Source. Scale details are summarised from the publication cited above. Always consult the original source for the full item set, scoring, and permission to use.
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