Detecting Measurement Invariance in Organizational Surveys* * The original data upon which this paper is based are available at www.hhpub.com/journals/ejpa

Summary: The problem of measurement invariance in organizational surveys is discussed, and it is shown how mixture distribution models can be used to detect response styles in organizational surveys. The results of an analysis of a leadership performance scale with the polytomous mixed Rasch model is reported (N = 4578). The results revealed that two latent classes differing in response styles could be detected: One class (size: 71%) using the whole response scale without a strong preference for specific categories and one class (size: 29%) preferring the extreme response categories and avoiding the middle ones. Furthermore, it was shown that the two latent classes differ in demographic and other organizational variables. Finally, the implications of this study for comparing individuals across divisions and organizations as well as for future research on organizational assessment methods are discussed.