Leader Digital Competence (LDC) Scale

Description

The Leader Digital Competence (LDC) Scale (op ‘t Roodt et al., 2025) is designed to measure digital competencies essential for virtual leaders. This 10-item instrument, evaluated across four independent samples of German-, English-, and Chinese-speaking adults, identifies three dimensions of LDC related to a leader’s ability to select, promote, and enable technology and digital media among their employees. The development of the scale involved a review of existing literature to pinpoint key competencies. Factor analysis, reliability, and validity assessments were conducted and reported to support the use of the instrument.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the LDC Scale is to evaluate leaders’ skills in effectively leading employees in virtual environments within modern digital workplaces.

Validity

Content Validity: The items were refined based on feedback from an expert review to ensure they accurately reflect the construct.

Convergent Validity: The LDC Scale demonstrates strong positive correlations with digital leadership (r = 0.77, p < 0.001) and digital transformation (r = 0.78, p < 0.001).

Discriminant Validity: Scaled chi-square difference tests confirmed that factor models with distinct factors provided a better fit to the data (p < 0.001).

Criterion Validity: Significant positive correlations were observed between the overall LDC scale and perceived leadership effectiveness (r = 0.73, p < 0.001) and performance (r = 0.62, p < 0.001).

Incremental Validity: The LDC Scale significantly predicted additional variance in perceived leadership effectiveness (β = 0.11, p = 0.014) and performance (β = 0.38, p < 0.001), even when controlling for other leadership constructs.

Predictive Validity: LDC was positively related to work engagement (r = 0.14, p = 0.003) and employee performance at Time 2 (r = 0.19, p < 0.001).

Reliability

Internal Consistency: The final LDC scale showed high reliability in the German sample, with α = 0.93 and ωT = 0.95. The subscales Digital Interaction, Digital Openness, and Digital Role Modeling also demonstrated strong internal consistency, with Cronbach’s alpha values of 0.89, 0.90, and 0.86, respectively, and McDonald’s omega values of 0.90, 0.90, and 0.87, respectively.

Factor Analysis

Confirmatory Factor Analysis: A three-factor model in the German sample demonstrated a good fit, although the robust RMSEA value slightly exceeded the recommended threshold of 0.08. Scaled chi-square difference tests indicated that this model fit the data better than one-factor and two-factor solutions.

Measurement Invariance: A non-significant chi-square difference test (Δχ2 = 9.87, df = 7, p = 0.196) between the configural and metric models suggests that constraining factor loadings to be equal across the German and English versions did not substantially alter the model fit, indicating configural and metric invariance. Similarly, the chi-square difference test comparing configural and metric models was not significant when comparing the German and Chinese versions (Δχ2 = 4.75, df = 7, p = 0.690), indicating that the model fit did not substantially change after constraining the factor loadings.

Test Methodology

The test methodology incorporates several aspects of validity and reliability testing, including:

• Test Validity

• Content Validity

• Convergent Validity

• Criterion Validity

• Discriminant Validity

• Predictive Validity

• Test Reliability

• Internal Consistency

• Factor Analysis

• Confirmatory Factor Analysis

• Measurement Invariance

Population Details

The LDC Scale is designed for use with adult participants.

Age Group

The intended age group for this scale is adulthood (18 years and older).

Population Group

The scale is applicable to both males and females.

Test Type

Original

Instrument Type

Inventory/Questionnaire

Format

A 7-point Likert-type scale is used, ranging from 1 = completely disagree to 7 = completely agree.

Language Available

The scale is available in Chinese, English, and German.

Keywords

Digital Role Modeling, Digital Openness, Digital Interaction, Leader Digital Competence, Digital Workplace, Virtual Leaders, Incremental Validity

Test Year

2025

Author

op ‘t Roodt, Helen; Bracht, Eva M.; van Dick, Rolf; Hernandez Bark, Alina S.

Author ORCID Identifier

van Dick, Rolf: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6308-9466

Affiliation

• op ‘t Roodt, Helen: Goethe University, Department of Psychology

• Bracht, Eva M.: Goethe University, Department of Psychology

• van Dick, Rolf: Goethe University, Department of Psychology

• Hernandez Bark, Alina S.: Goethe University, Department of Psychology

Email

op ‘t Roodt, Helen: [email protected]

files

No data is Available

Permissions

The scale may be used for research and teaching purposes.

Fee

There is no fee for using this scale.

Correspondence Address

op ‘t Roodt, Helen: [email protected]

Reference’s

op ‘t Roodt, H., Bracht, E. M., van Dick, R., & Hernandez Bark, A. S. (2025). Navigating through the digital workplace: Measuring leader digital competence. Journal of Business and Psychology, 40(1), 179–205. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-024-09947-6

Items of the Leader Digital Competence (LDC) Scale

Digital Interaction

Digital Interaction 1: My leader uses digital media for communicating with his/ her employees in an appropriate way
Digital Interaction 2: My leader ensures that the team has appropriate norms for communication via digital media .*
Digital Interaction 3: Even when my leader is not personally present, he/ she is able to lead the team via digital media
Digital Interaction 4: My leader knows which digital medium (e.g., telephone, e-mail, chat) is most appropriate in which situation
Digital Interaction 5: All in all, digital communication with my leader works well

Digital Openness

Digital Openness 1: My leader shows openness to new technologies
Digital Openness 2: My leader reacts with enthusiasm when presented with technical innovations
Digital Openness 3: My leader promotes openness to technical innovations
Digital Openness 4: My leader shares his/ her enthusiasm for new technologies with the team .*

Digital Role Modeling

Digital Role Modeling 1: My leader is a role model for me regarding the use of digital media
Digital Role Modeling 2: My leader helps me use digital media in an appropriate way (e.g., by establishing rules for the use of email, arrangements regarding availability times, etc.)
Digital Role Modeling 3: My leader creates boundaries so that I can use digital media in an appropriate way

Note. Items are rated from 1 = completely disagree to 7 = completely agree. Items with an asterisk were dropped in the final model.