4.8 Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ, MLQ 5x)
The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) and its condensed version, the MLQ 5X, are intended to help individuals assess their leadership style. The instruments examine different approaches to leadership, from “from passive leaders, to leaders who give contingent rewards to followers, to leaders who transform their followers into becoming leaders themselves” (Mind Garden, n.d.). Participants can discover if they exhibit transformational leadership qualities and gain valuable insights into how both they and their colleagues perceive their leadership abilities.
The instrument was developed by Bernard M. Bass and Bruce J. Avolio in 1995. The short version has 45 questions and uses two forms: self-rating and supervisor rating. It takes 15 minutes to complete and has been shown to be reliable. Reliability for the total items and each leadership factor scale ranged from .74 to .94 in a large study based on ratings from nine samples.
Access
The instrument is available for purchase through Mind Garden at https://www.mindgarden.com/16-multifactor-leadership-questionnaire.
References
Avolio, B. J., & Bass, B. M. (1995). Individual consideration viewed at multiple levels of analysis: A multi-level framework for examining the diffusion of transformational leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 6(2), 199–218. https://doi.org/10.1016/1048-9843(95)90035-7
Eagly, A. H., Johannesen-Schmidt, M. C., & van Engen, M. L. (2003). Transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership styles: A meta-analysis comparing women and men. Psychological Bulletin, 129(4), 569–591. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.129.4.569
Lowe, K. B., Kroeck, K., & Sivasubramaniam, N. (1996). Effectiveness correlates transformational and transactional leadership: A meta-analytic review of the MLQ literature. The Leadership Quarterly, 7(3), 385–425. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1048-9843(96)90027-2
Laub, J. A. (1999). Assessing the servant organization: Development of the Servant Organizational Leadership Assessment (SOLA) instrument [Doctoral dissertation, Florida Atlantic University]. FAU Digital Archives. https://fau.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/fau%3A9478/datastream/OBJ/view/Assessing_the_servant_organization__Development_of_the_Servant_Organizational_Leadership_Assessment__SOLA__instrument.pdf
Mind Garden. (n.d.). Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire™. https://www.mindgarden.com/16-multifactor-leadership-questionnaire
Stogdill, R. M., & Bass, B. M. (1981). Stogdill’s handbook of leadership: A survey of theory and research. Free Press.
