Date of Award

Spring 2023

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Organizational Leadership

First Advisor

Dr. Joshua D. Henson

Second Advisor

Dr. Debra Dean

Third Advisor

Dr. Kateryna (Ligon) Pitchford

Abstract

Every person is a follower, and followers and leaders are both equally important to the leadership process, yet followership literature pales in comparison to leadership literature. One problem was that followership did not have a valid and reliable selfassessment. The purpose of this study was to advance the theory of followership by conducting confirmatory factor analysis on the revised Kelley Followership Questionnaire (KFQ-R; Ligon, 2016) with data collected from employees at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The KFQ-R and three additional instruments to assess convergent validity were administered in December 2022. Data analysis included seven iterations of factor analysis conducted using jamovi statistical software. The results showed that the KFQ-R is a 16-item assessment that measures two previously identified followership dimensions (critical thinking disposition and work engagement) and two new followership dimensions (co-productive orientation and experienced meaningfulness). This updated version of Ligon’s KFQ-R should be named the KFQ-RV2, with the letter V indicating “version.” This study expands and enriches the understanding of measurable followership dimensions that cultivate a positive organizational culture. Among the nine suggestions for future research are to reword two items, use the updated scale, and administer the KFQ-RV2 in flat organizations.

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