PurposeBuilding upon Patterson's servant leadership theory, this study aims to present an instrument to measure the constructs of this working theory (identified as agapao love, humanity, altruism, vision, trust, service, and empowerment).Design/methodology/approachSpecifically, the seven component concepts, as defined by Patterson, were used to build items for a servant leadership instrument. This study used DeVellis' “Guidelines in Scale Development” to develop an instrument for Patterson's new theory of servant leadership. The participants for the study consisted of a stratified sample taken from the study response data base. The surveys were created, and administered, using an online survey using surveysuite.FindingsThree separate data collections were used for the development of this instrument reducing the 71‐item scale to 42 items yielding five factors: empowerment, love, humility, trust, and vision.Research limitations/implicationsRecommend that future research include surveys at companies and organizations that advocate servant leadership concepts. Future research should include how each gender influences some of these items.Practical implicationsIt is the intention that this instrument has the ability to predict or give measurement to the concepts of Patterson's theory of servant leadership so that a servant leader can measure his or her effectiveness as a servant leader.Originality/valueAccording to the review of the literature, this is the first instrument to measure five factors on servant leadership.

When Mark McGwire broke Roger Maris's home run record in September of 1998, he was instantly declared an American hero and held up as a positive role model for teenagers and young adults. The extensive media attention focused on McGwire made the general public aware of his use of a muscle-building dietary supplement, Androstenedione. It also increased the public's awareness of McGwire's public service to prevent child abuse. The present research assesses audience involvement with McGwire through parasocial interaction and identification, and the effects of that involvement on audience knowledge of and attitudes toward Androstenedione and child abuse prevention. Results indicate parasocial interaction with an athlete regarded as a public role model likely leads to audience identification with that person, which in turn promotes certain attitudes and beliefs. In this case, parasocial interaction and identification with Mark McGwire was strongly associated with knowledge of Androstenedione, intended use of the supplement, and concern for child abuse. Implications of this research for featuring celebrities in health communication campaigns are discussed.

When Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed in 1997, a massive public outpouring of grief occurred. Six years after her death, the public and the tabloids still debate whether the paparazzi were to blame for her fatal car accident. Previous studies of celebrities suggest that psychological involvement with a celebrity will determine to what extent stories of the celebrity and their subsequent social influence will affect the general public. The same process was examined in this study of Princess Diana. To study this phenomenon, a survey administered immediately after her fatal car accident compared people's level of involvement with Princess Diana to their viewing of stories about her funeral and their attitudes toward the press. Results showed that gender and age similarities predicted involvement with Princess Diana. This involvement, in turn, predicted people's media use in response to her death and their attitudes toward the press. This finding reinforces previous studies that have shown involvement is an important variable that influences both media consumption and media effects. The authors consider implications of this research for investigating the growing international influence of celebrities through mass media.

No abstract

No abstract