Measurement of Transactional and Transformational Leadership: Validity and Reliability in Sri Lankan Context

Among the various leadership behaviors explored, transactional and transformational leadership behaviors continue to attract the interests of researchers. This interest ranges from examining the effect of this leadership dichotomy on various organizational and individual outcomes and, to testing of the goodness of measure on the transactional and transformational leadership behavior. However, testing validity and reliability of the measures for transactional and transformational leadership mainly focus on western context while similar effort in Sri Lanka context is relatively scant. The purpose of this paper is to validate the conceptualization of transactional and transformational leadership in the Sri Lankan Context. Data were gathered through a survey by using a structured questionnaire from 136 Sri Lanka public sector employees. Factors analysis, correlation, and reliability analysis were conducted to test the validity and reliability. Implications regarding the goodness of measure were discussed and major issues of measurement in Sri Lankan context were presented.