Report on the Validation of the Emotionally Intelligent Leadership for Students Inventory

Abstract

The present study was designed to examine the measurement of the Emotionally Intelligent Leadership (EIL) construct and to provide evidence of validation for the multidimensional Emotionally Intelligence Leadership for Students: Inventory 2.0 (EILS:I 2.0). The EILS:I 2.0 is a self-report assessment of emotionally intelligent leadership in the context of a student environment. The results of two confirmatory factory analyses of two independent samples of data from students across the United States provide support for a 19-factor model of EIL and the construct validity of the EILS:I 2.0. These results provide leadership educators evidence that use of the EILS:I 2.0 will result in the measurement of 19 capacities of EIL in students. Implications of these findings for leadership educators and directions for future research are discussed.

Emotional intelligence frameworks in leadership education

“…Data collected using EILS‐I was used to test the conceptual model, and through factor analysis, the model and the instrument were revised (see Miguel & Allen, 2016); the revised model and instrument are included in the second edition of the EIL publications. The two iterations of the instrument have been used in quantitative studies with college students examining EIL based on student involvement (Haber et al., 2012), gender differences in EIL (Shankman et al., 2010), and the connection between EIL and leadership self‐efficacy for college women (Haber‐Curran et al., 2018).…”

A Psychometric Analysis of the Student Leadership Competencies Inventory

“…Within this group, the Emotionally Intelligent Leadership (EIL) Inventory offers students an opportunity to self-report their level of engagement with 19 capacities (sub-scales). The inventory includes 183 items across the 19 capacities with a general goal of three items per capacity (Miguel & Allen, 2016). Another instrument used with college students is the Student Leadership Practices Inventory (SLPI), developed to assess students' self-perception of their behavior across five practices of effective leadership.…”

“…In validating survey scales, a common standard for what is a borderline acceptable alpha result has long been 0.7, with results labeled as "strong" if higher than 0.8 (Nunnaly, 1978). In past scale research in the leadership education discipline, the range of alpha results for the initial study of the Emotionally Intelligent Leadership for Students scale ranged from .81 to .93 (Miguel & Allen, 2016), while the ranges for the initial study of the Student Leadership Practices Inventory ranged from .73 to .89 for the self-reported version (Posner, 2004).…”