Measuring Clergy Effectiveness: The Development and Validation of the Clergy Effectiveness Scale
Measuring Clergy Effectiveness: The Development and Validation of the Clergy Effectiveness Scale
Samuel P. Dobrotka | 2018
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to operationalize the 64 characteristics within the domains of knowledge, skills, abilities, and personal characteristics (KSAPs) that DeShon (2010) identified as enhancing clergy effectiveness. A review of the current literature showed that clergy effectiveness instruments are inadequate due to age (developed in the 1980s), theological orientation (insufficient evangelical representation), and insufficient content validity and/or were based on secondary criteria. The methodology for the study closely followed the widely accepted steps for scale development identified in DeVellis (2017). The sample was comprised of church leaders, both staff and lay, who had a working relationship with the senior pastor for at least 1 year (N = 397). Churches of various sizes from five different denominations were selected using a snowball technique. Data were collected via an online Google Forms application, downloaded to an Excel spreadsheet where it was scrubbed, and then uploaded into SPSS V23.0 for analysis. Tests conducted on the data confirmed suitability for factor analysis—greater than a 5:1 ratio of participants per item, Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy (.965), Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity (significant at .000), and an assessment of the correlation matrix (most correlations greater than .5). Factor analysis was conducted using an orthogonal rotation (varimax). Four analyses were run before all of the cross-load and no-load items were eliminated. Scale optimization resulted in a final three-factor instrument consisting of 14 items. A scree plot substantiated a three-factor model. The three factors for the final clergy effectiveness instrument were socially adept (five items), professional competence (five items), and inclination to lead (four items). Scale reliability was substantiated by Cronbach’s alpha scores of .94 (socially adept), .89 (professional competence), and .73 (inclination to lead). Discussion included significance of the study, limitations of the study, and suggestions for future research.