Validation and convergence of the LID scale: Measuring virtue-based leadership in university students

This study validates the Leadership Integral Development (LID) scale as a virtue-based measure of leadership education grounded in an Aristotelian-Thomistic framework. Using data from 2,927 university students in Spain and Mexico, we examined the psychometric properties of the original LID-45 and its abbreviated LID-12. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported a coherent three-domain structure—cognitive, relational, and performative—while multigroup CFA demonstrated configural, metric, and scalar invariance across cultural contexts. Convergent validity analyses showed significant associations with character- and virtue-based measures (VIA, QCV, MHM) and with authentic leadership (ALQ), especially in competencies linked to resilience, humility, and magnanimity. These findings underscore the central role of emotional regulation and transcendent virtues in students’ understanding of effective leadership. Overall, the LID emerges as a theoretically grounded, culturally robust, and pedagogically meaningful instrument for formative assessment in higher education, supporting institutions in evaluating leadership programmes and fostering students’ integral formation.