Virtue-based measurement of ethical leadership: The Leadership Virtues Questionnaire.

TLDR

The study develops the Leadership Virtues Questionnaire to assess ethical leaders defined by the four cardinal virtues of prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice. The LVQ was constructed based on Aristotelian and Thomistic virtues and validated through a series of studies with managers examining its psychometric properties and correlates. Factor analysis revealed a single‑factor structure consistent with the unity of the cardinal virtues, and the LVQ correlated strongly with transformational, authentic, and other ethical leadership measures while demonstrating discriminant validity, indicating its value for assessing and developing leader virtues.

Abstract

Approaching ethical leadership from a characterological perspective, this study reports on the creation of the Leadership Virtues Questionnaire (LVQ). Defining an ethical leader as one who adheres to the four cardinal virtues of prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice, as discussed in the ancient texts of Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas, we developed a rating instrument for assessing leader virtues. A series of studies with managers examined the psychometric properties and correlates of the LVQ. Factor analyses suggested that one factor best captured the construct, not inconsistent with philosophers’ notions of the “unity” of the cardinal virtues. The LVQ was shown to be highly positively correlated with transformational leadership, authentic leadership, and another recently developed measure of ethical leadership, and there was evidence of discriminant validity. The LVQ, used with the virtues approach to ethical leadership, should prove to be a valuable tool for the assessment and development of leader virtues and ethics.