Validation of the service leadership knowledge scale : criterion-related validity

Abstract

In order to assess the effectiveness of service leadership education, we developed the 200-item Service Leadership Knowledge Scale to measure knowledge related to service leadership. In this paper, we report a validation study examining whether the developed scale could differentiate students who had received service leadership education from those had not (i.e. criterion-related validity). A posttest-only control group design was adopted to validate the scale, with 67 students in the experimental group and 93 students in the control group. As predicted, the experimental group scored higher on all domains and total scores compared to the control group. In terms of the individual item, the experimental group had higher scores on 163 items than did the control group, with statistically significant differences on 63 items. The present findings provide evidence supporting the criterion-related validity of the Service Leadership Knowledge Scale.