SummaryThis paper describes the construction and empirical evaluation of a new scale for measuring empowering leader behavior. Study One consisted of thorough interviews with external leaders and team members in three organizations. Behaviors elicited in the interviews were classi®ed by researchers into eight categories of leader empowering behavior and the Empowering Leadership Questionnaire (ELQ) was constructed to measure each of these categories. In Study Two, the ELQ was administered to team members and leaders from two organizations. The results indicated that ®ve-factors (Coaching, Informing, Leading By Example, Showing Concern/Interacting with the Team, and Participative Decision-Making) adequately describe the data. In Study Three, we cross-validated the scale in a sample from ®ve organizations and the factor analysis con®rmed the ®ve-factor model. The ELQ dimensions were also compared with behaviors measured by two well-established measures of leader behavior. The results indicated that the ELQ dimensions partially overlap with previously identi®ed constructs, but that empowering leadership behavior can not be entirely accounted for by the earlier measures. De®nitions and implications for the categories of empowering leader behaviors are oered.

A broad, integrative theoretical framework for understanding the relationship between individual differences and various leader behaviors is presented; it proposes a new individual-differences construct called the motivation to lead (MTL). A large-scale study using 3 samples in different occupational and cultural contexts shows 3 factors underlying MTL, namely, affective-identity, noncalculative, and social-normative MTL. A parsimonious model of antecedents to MTL is developed through hierarchical regression modeling and is cross-validated using confirmatory latent variable modeling. MTL is shown to provide incremental validity over other predictors such as general cognitive ability, values, personality, and attitudes in the prediction of 2 behavioral measures of leadership potential. Findings are discussed with reference to the theoretical framework proposed for understanding individual differences in leader behavior.

Sexual harassment of women in organizational settings has recently become a topic of interest to researchers and the general public alike. Although numerous studies document its frequency, the development of conceptual models identifying antecedents and consequences of harassment has proceeded at a slower pace. In this article, an empirical test of a recently proposed conceptual model is described. According to the model, organizational climate for sexual harassment and job gender context are critical antecedents of sexual harassment; harassment, in turn, influences work-related variables (e.g., job satisfaction); psychological states (e.g., anxiety and depression); and physical health. On the basis of a sample of women employed at a large, regulated utility company, the model's predictions were generally supported.

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A meta-analysis of social desirability distortion compared computer questionnaires with traditional paper-and-pencil questionnaires and face-to-face interviews in 61 studies (1967-1997; 673 effect sizes). Controlling for correlated observations, a near-zero overall effect size was obtained for computer versus paper-and-pencil questionnaires. With moderators, there was less distortion on computerized measures of social desirability responding than on the paper-and-pencil measures, especially when respondents were alone and could backtrack. There was more distortion on the computer on other scales, but distortion was small when respondents were alone, anonymous, and could backtrack. There was less distortion on computerized versions of interviews than on face-to-face interviews. Research is needed on nonlinear patterns of distortion, and on the effects of context and interface on privacy perceptions and on responses to sensitive questions.