The development and validation of the Hope-Centered Leadership Scale

This study defines and conceptualizes Hope-Centered Leadership (HCL), introducing a theoretical framework and measurement model capturing how leaders activate hope within organizational settings. Grounded in Snyder’s hope theory, the model operationalizes the components of hope—goals, pathways, and agency—into observable leadership behaviors. A 9-item HCL scale was developed through a two-stage process including item-congruency review and expert panel evaluation, then tested using data from 340 primary and secondary educators in a southwestern U.S. state. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) supported the hypothesized first-order structure of the HCL scale, supporting its reliability and construct validity as a behavioral measure of hope activation. As hypothesized, HCL demonstrated a strong, positive relationship with collective hope and a smaller, positive relationship with trait hope. HCL showed a strong, negative relationship with abusive supervision, suggesting its potential to buffer against toxic workplace dynamics. These findings establish HCL as a valid and reliable construct, offering researchers a structured model for examining hope activation in leadership practice. For practitioners, HCL provides a foundation for training leaders to foster hope enhance well-being, reduce burnout and sustaining motivation. By enabling the direct measurement and development of hope-activating behaviors, HCL advances a new framework for building resilient, high-performing, and hope-centered organizations.