Leadership Perception Analysis of 360-Degree Feedback

Multirater feedback, often called 360-degree feedback, is a popular development and assessment tool, especially for organizational leaders. Raters from different organizational levels, including subordinates, boss, peers, and self, rate the leader's performance. However, there seldom is strong agreement across rater groups. This study used the data from a commercially available 360-degree leader development feedback instrument and a second-order confirmatory factor analysis model to try to explain the differences in ratings between the groups. Rather than an explanation of the differences, what was found were two second-order factors that may be the underlying elements that all raters consider when observing leader performance.