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The purpose of this paper is to determine the quality of the leadership competencies of first-level military leaders according to three behavioural dimensions: task, change and relational competencies.

The study was conducted in the Estonian Defence Forces (EDF) among first-level commanders (N = 89), whose leadership competencies were assessed by their subordinates (N = 1,655). The Leader Reward and Punishment Questionnaire was used to assess task competencies, the Transformational Leadership Behaviour Inventory was used to assess change competencies and the Extended Authentic Leadership Measure was used to assess relational competencies. Cluster analyses were conducted to identify the level of leadership competencies in the sample and to determine the commanders' leadership profile.

The study reveals that in terms of leadership competencies, only two competencies from task, two from change and none from the relational dimension are sufficient. In addition, the results highlight that the relational competencies of leadership are connected to each other, while task and change leadership competencies are not.

The study results make it possible to work out the main principles for a leadership development programme for first-level commanders. In addition, the developed methodology makes it possible to assess the leadership competencies of individual commanders using the three-dimensional framework.

This paper demonstrates how quality of the leadership competencies and profiles of first-level EDF commanders are determined within three behavioural dimensions: task, change and relational competencies.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to test existing Authentic Leadership (AL) instruments simultaneously in the same environment, and based on these, to propose an extended instrument for the assessment of AL intrapersonal and interpersonal competencies.

Three existing instruments of AL – Authentic Leadership Questionnaire (ALQ) (Walumbwa et al., 2008), Authentic Leadership Inventory (ALI) (Neider and Schriesheim, 2011) and the Three Pillar Model (TPM) (Beddoes-Jones and Swailes, 2015) – were tested, and an extended instrument was proposed based on the results. Two different samples were used – a homogeneous sample (N = 1021) from the military and a heterogeneous sample (N = 547) from retail, catering, public services and logistics industries. Construct validity for the instruments was assessed using a confirmatory factor analysis, and the internal consistency of the factors was analysed using Cronbach’s alpha.

From existing instruments, two out of three indicate issues with internal factor consistency and model fit. The internal consistency of factors and model fit of the extended instrument developed here is satisfactory and suitable for assessing authentic leadership competencies in a single organisation or industry.

This paper sees AL as the behaviour of leaders affected by leadership competencies. Three existing AL instruments were tested alongside a proposed extended instrument to assess AL intrapersonal and interpersonal competencies in the same context.