What a difference a leader makes? Measuring inclusive leadership in a sample of Italian workers

Despite a growing interest in diversity and inclusion at work in research and organizational practice, few organizations implement effective inclusive initiatives, and there is a lack of tools to assess inclusive leadership (IL) in the workplace. Following the Job Demands-Resources model and the positive leadership framework, we propose an Italian adaptation of Ashikali’s IL scale (2019), with the aim of testing its psychometric properties, exploring the construct’s nomological network, and testing its potential predictive validity. We hypothesized that IL, information and training opportunities would have a positive relationship with job satisfaction through the mediation of the perception of a diversity climate, while workload has a negative relationship. The cross-sectional study was conducted with an online survey addressed to a sample of Italian workers (N = 567). We conducted confirmatory factor analyses and analyses of variance to test the psychometric properties of the instrument, and path analysis to examine the associations between IL, perception of diversity climate, and job satisfaction. The results show that the instrument has acceptable psychometric properties and that IL has a positive association with inclusive work climate, which in turn is positively related with job satisfaction; however, older workers and blue-collar workers perceive less IL. Investing in IL training and development can be a great benefit to both employees and the organization.