van Quaquebeke, N., & Brodbeck, F. C. (2008). Entwicklung und erste Validierung zweier Instrumente zur Erfassung von Führungskräfte-Kategorisierung im deutschsprachigen Raum [Development and first validation of two scales to measure leader categorization in German-speaking countries]. Zeitschrift für Arbeits- und Organisationspsychologie, 52(2), 70-80.

The cognitive psychological approach of leader categorization suggests that subordinates respond more positively to leaders when these fit their implicit expectations about leaders (i.e., their leader prototype). However, because cultural factors greatly affect leader prototypes, the mostly Anglo-American instruments are not suitable for research in German-speaking countries. We therefore present two newly developed instruments. To assess a

leader's fit with a socially shared leader prototype in Germany, we reanalyzed the original German GLOBE data with respect to core German leadership attributes. To assess a leaders fit with people's idiosyncratic leader prototypes, we developed a pictorial one-item measure. While the advantage of the first instrument lies in the interpretability of the fit profile, the advantage of the pictorial instrument is its efficient and culture-free measurement. In an organizational study (N = 104), convergent and criterion validity of both instruments were confirmed; however, the interpretability of the psychometric properties is limited due to the study design (cross-sectional with common source data). Necessary follow-up studies are thus outlined in the discussion.

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