Measuring school leaders' adaptability in the UAE: development of a scale to measure leadership adaptability

Purpose This paper presents a quantitative measurement instrument for Leadership Adaptability. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative themes are examined, grouped and developed into 13 quantitative statements of Leadership Adaptability. A robust analysis is conducted to understand the relationships and underlying dimensions in the statements. Three types of dimension reduction techniques are employed: principal components analysis and two types of exploratory factor analysis. The instrument is tested in the form of a survey for the first time with public and private school leaders in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi ( n = 167). Findings The quantitative Leadership Adaptability scale is validated by applying robust tests of dimensionality, validity and reliability. The three dimension reduction tests identified that the 13 statements are measuring a single dimension of Leadership Adaptability, and should therefore be treated as a single homogeneous scale. Reliability analyses further confirmed the results of the dimension reduction results, with a high score for Cronbach's alpha of 0.953, classified as an “excellent” level of reliability. Discriminant validity tests of the 13 statements, analysed alongside the 20-item Cultural Intelligence Scale, further confirmed the statements as being a distinct scale. Applying the instrument to Abu Dhabi school leaders showed they have high levels of adaptability. Originality/value This paper presents the first known quantitative measurement instrument for understanding Leadership Adaptability. This instrument addresses a need by developing a quantitative tool for researchers studying Leadership Adaptability, and it can be used to facilitate further exploration of this topic.