“We don’t accomplish anything in this world alone… and whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one’s life and all the weavings of individual threads from one to another that creates something.”
Sandra Day O’Connor, first woman to serve as a U.S. Supreme Court justice.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book is an update of Nickels and Ford’s (2017) Leadership Instruments Library (LIL) for Graduate Research and attests to the collaborative endeavors of scholars, researchers, and practitioners in the domain of leadership studies, including pioneers in the field whose legacies still light our way. Their insights and work laid the foundation for the content presented in this document.
The authors of this revised version wish to thank James Madison University (JMU), the JMU College of Business (COB), and the JMU School of Strategic Leadership Studies (SSLS) for providing the resources and environment that made this project possible. Several scholars within JMU’s SSLS have been involved and consulted in the development of this revised text. We extend our gratitude to each of them and to the scholarly community that will maintain our efforts in the future.
We especially appreciate the following scholars for their insightful contributions to the development of this resource, including Zerrouk Bessa, Marleen Bett, Karen Ford, Marcus Hubbard, Kennedy Musyoka, Kristina Nano, Sam Nickels, Margaret F. Sloan, and Yu Wang.
We extend our sincere gratitude to Liz Thompson, JMU’s Open Education Librarian, for her expertise, guidance, and consistent support during the development of this publication. Lucy Bryan, former faculty member in the James Madison University Writing Center, also provided invaluable guidance and insights during the review and editing process.
Finally, the diverse array of leadership instruments described in this iteration has two main sources—peer-reviewed journals and commercial websites. In both cases, the instruments are typically the result of decades of work by dedicated scholars and experts in leadership studies and we gratefully acknowledge their contributions to this work and the field.
INTRODUCTION
This book builds on the vision and research of many scholars. It was first conceived of and compiled by leadership studies scholars Karen A. Ford and Sam Nickels in 2017. That original resource has been downloaded more than 11,500 times and cited in numerous scholarly works, proving its value to the academic community and readers interested in the field of leadership studies. This revision, which we have labeled the Leadership Instrument Library (LIL Version.2), gratefully acknowledges that foundational work.
This revision includes over 130 instruments, provides a new organizational structure for easier instrument search, and establishes a dynamic format in order to consistently revise and improve the document as new instruments emerge and are validated. Because this publication is a compilation of instruments from various sources, some of which are copyrighted, see the specific publication site for each instrument’s copyright details.
PURPOSE
The goal of this book is to give leadership studies scholars and practitioners easy access to a range of tools for researching and assessing leadership. It describes a variety of available instruments and classifies them according to the Wren Table of Leadership first published in 2006. We opted to use this classification system because it offers a comprehensive and logical taxonomy of leadership behaviors that can be used to identify and assess leadership.
We designed this guide to be comprehensive, while understanding it is not exhaustive. The dynamic nature of leadership research implies a continuous evolution of instruments and assessments. As such, this book represents a snapshot in time, capturing a significant array of leadership instruments available up to the current version.
We hope this work serves as a valuable resource for scholars and practitioners, facilitating a deeper understanding of the diverse landscape of leadership instruments.
BOOK LIMITATIONS
Leadership research continues to expand rapidly. Because new leadership instruments are constantly being developed, it is challenging for any single book to include them all. For a more detailed discussion of the limitations of this document and the instruments described herein, see the “Methods and Limits” section at the end of this book.
It is also worth noting that the instruments described in this book may not be suitable for use in all leadership contexts. Two important considerations when studying leadership impact are differences between industries and differences between leadership levels. For example, an instrument that effectively measures leadership impact in a specific industry targeting supervisory roles might be less effective in another industry with highly complex leadership structures.
Ultimately, it is up to the user of this library to determine the best instruments for use within their particular study context and any appropriate permissions. SSLS does not assume any responsibility for improper use of the instruments accessed in this library.
REVISION PROCESS
We intend this resource to be a living document, shepherded by our collective academic community. To that end, the SSLS Leadership Instruments Library will be consistently updated in partnership with our scholarly community. Anyone with additional information, corrections, or revisions to offer should contact the School of Strategic Leadership Studies at ssls@jmu.edu. Once the information is received, it will be verified by our moderators, and the book will be revised accordingly.
ORGANIZATION OF THE BOOK
Although there are numerous ways to consider leadership studies, we used Wren’s Periodic Table of Leadership as a framework for organizing this book’s content. However, we acknowledge that numerous alternative classifications are possible and that boundaries between categories are permeable and often not mutually exclusive.
Table 1
From Wren, J. T. (2006). A quest for a grand theory of leadership. The quest for a general theory of leadership, 1-38.
Wren Periodic Table of Leadership Studies
By classifying leadership approaches into distinct categories, Wren’s (2006) model provides a framework for studying different dimensions and aspects of leadership. In so doing, it can assist researchers and practitioners in analyzing and evaluating leadership behaviors and approaches.
As shown in Table 1 above, Wren’s (2006) model offers four descriptive categories into which leadership approaches may be placed: contextual, individual, process, and normative. It also devotes a category to the methods of inquiry employed by leadership studies scholars. In this book, we use the four descriptive categories to organize our overviews of leadership instruments:
Contextual leadership involves adapting leadership behaviors and strategies to fit a specific context or situation. Effective leaders should be able to recognize and understand contextual factors and adapt their approaches accordingly (Day & Antonakis, 2018).
Individual leadership focuses on leaders themselves and internal factors that may enhance or inhibit their effectiveness. This category includes leaders’ unique traits and behaviors and the cognitive processes that shape their leadership styles and impact their effectiveness.
Process leadership is centered around understanding and responding to the dynamics of the leadership process. It involves recognizing the interactive nature of leadership and adjusting to achieve desired outcomes. Leaders who employ process leadership pay attention to the evolving dynamics, relationships, and interactions among leaders and followers.
Normative leadership emphasizes ethical considerations and moral principles as guiding forces for leadership behaviors. Leaders who adopt a normative approach prioritize doing what is right and adhere to a set of ethical principles, norms, or standards in their decision-making and actions.
This book also includes an additional “Cross section” category that includes instruments that do not neatly fit into the categories provided by Wren’s (2006) model.
SECTION FORMAT
The structure of this book reflects a commitment to clarity and usefulness in a field where the multitude of instruments can be overwhelming. Each instrument is presented in a consistent format to facilitate easy comparison and to help readers select appropriate instruments for their prospective studies or for benchmarking purposes. Note that for some instruments, only very limited information is available. Additionally, in some cases, we combined multiple instruments under the same instrument title because of the similarities between instruments. To the extent possible, we provide the following information about each instrument.
Purpose Section
This section briefly reviews the purpose of the instrument, discussing:
What the instrument is designed to accomplish;
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- Who (or what sectors) have used the instrument and to what ends;
- The target population who is supposed to take the test or survey; and
- Who might use the results of the test and how they might be used.
- The target population who is supposed to take the test or survey; and
- Who (or what sectors) have used the instrument and to what ends;
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Description Section
This section further describes the instrument, covering these topics:
The name(s) of the individual(s) or organization who developed the instrument;
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- When and in what context the instrument was developed;
- Relevant definitions or explanations of the topic the instrument addresses;
- When and in what context the instrument was developed;
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- The format of the instrument (e.g., interview questions, Likert-type questions);
- The types of questions the instrument contains or sample questions/content;
- How the instrument is scored and how results are analyzed;
- A summary of the instrument’s reliability and validity; and,
- Limitations noted by the seminal author or other researchers or experts.
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Access section
This section offers information about how to access the instrument, such as:
Where the instrument can be found;
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- If the instrument is available online or only through a service (e.g., a company, university, individual, etc.);
- If it is available for free; or,
- If using the instrument requires the permission of the authors.
- If the instrument is available online or only through a service (e.g., a company, university, individual, etc.);
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References section
The section provides a list of peer-reviewed articles, books, websites, and reports that discuss the instrument.
Preferred Citation
If citing the Leadership Instruments Library, please use the following citation format:
School of Strategic Leadership Studies. (2025, January). Leadership instruments library for graduate research, 2.0. James Madison University Libraries. https://pressbooks.lib.jmu.edu/leadershipinstrumentlibrary2/chapter/leadership-instruments-library-2-0/
