Creation and validation of a research-oriented learning agility measure

Learning agility is defined as "the willingness and ability to learn new competencies in order to perform under first-time, tough, or different conditions" (Lombardo & Eichinger, 2000, p. 323). The concept of learning agility came about from an observed gap in the leadership literature and was developed through behavioral observation of executives (De Meuse, Dai, & Hallenbeck, 2010). Learning agility currently has three different theoretical factor structures, these being a single factor, four factors, and five factors. Learning agility has been shown to predict employee performance as well as employers' rating of promotion potential, while being independent of personality and cognitive ability (Bedford, 2011; Connolly, 2001; De Meuse, Dai, Eichinger, Page, Clark, & Zewdie, 2011; De Meuse, Karunaratne, & Alexander, 2012; Dries, Vantilborgh, & Pepermans, 2012; Lombardo & Eichinger, 2000). The currently available learning agility measures do not lend themselves well to use by the academic community due to prohibitive administration costs. The purpose of this study was to develop a new, self-report learning agility scale to exist in the public domain. The finalized Learning Agility Research Instrument (LARI) is composed of 17 items. The LARI displayed acceptable internal consistency (McDonald's o = .86), however, evidence for validity was mixed. Scores on the LARI were unable to establish discriminant validity from personality, and correlated with other variables in unpredicted ways as well. Structural equation modeling was used to show that learning agility data best fit a hierarchical, five-factor structure. Results also suggested that learning agility may be better conceptualized as a more cognitively-driven trait, and investigation of this may be fruitful in future research.