A Contribution to the Italian Validation of Kelley’s Followership Questionnaire

Followership, despite its pervasiveness in the workplace, is a neglected topic. This study contributes to validating the Italian version of Kelley’s followership scale (1992), with its two dimensions of active engagement (AE) and independent critical thinking (ICT). A self-report questionnaire was administered to 610 workers. The structure of the scale was investigated through exploratory factor analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis showing that the version of the instrument which exhibits the most satisfactory properties consists of 14 items for two dimensions. The two subscales’ correlations with the other investigated variables (behavioral disengagement coping, extraversion, lie, job satisfaction, disengagement, emotional exhaustion, leader-member exchange and organizational citizenship behaviors) were in line with expectations and differed for AE and ICT. The two subscales also had significant differences on the basis of socio-demographic characteristics. Results indicate that the final version of Kelley’s scale can be regarded as a useful research tool, although it requires further study.