A Study of the Reliability and Validity of the Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) Instrument in Arabic

There are difficulties associated with the use of English language versions of cohesive psychometric instruments tomeasure Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) in a non-English speaking business environment. These instruments are generally composed in English and are most suited to Western culture. Use of these instruments in an alternative language can lead to problems in terms of translation and culture. For example, there are often linguisticvariations in a literal translation of questions or items, which can lead to subtle orperhaps significantlyaltered meanings in the translated instruments, an issue that may jeopardise the validity and reliability of measurements.

This article discusses research into the formulation of an Arabic version of the Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) instrument. A literal translation of the LMX was applied to 433 employees at the King Abdulaziz University (KAU) and the outcome generated a greater degree of internal validity to that generated by the English language versions.