JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AND LEADERSHIP RESEARCH (JPSLR )

E-ISSN 2504-883X
P-ISSN 2695 2432
VOL. 11 NO. 2 2025
DOI: 10.56201/jpslr.v11.no2.2025.pg14.26


The Essentials of Leadership Skills for Administrative Leaders at Various Levels in the National Assembly of Lao PDR

Khamkieo Phommavong, Dr Chiv Ratha


Abstract


This research explores the leadership skills required for leaders at different levels within the National Assembly of Lao PDR. By utilizing a quantitative approach and survey methodology, it identifies and analyzes the importance of conceptual, human, and technique skills across various leadership hierarchies. The analysis was conducted using EFA and CFA. This study explores leadership skills and their interrelations, using a 5-point Likert-scale survey that measured various leadership levels among 240 leaders. The significant findings of leadership skills variables were validated using the EFA method with a KMO of 0.865 and MSA >0.5. Three categories of leadership skills were identified by Factor Analysis Extraction, using the Maximum Likelihood method and Varimax Rotation: Conceptual Skills (vision, political, problem-solving, and decision-making), Human Skills (motivation, ethics, adaptability, interpersonal, and development), and Technical Skills (ICT, administration, coaching, service, and expertise). The relationships between leadership skills variables confirming the model’s strong fit to the data were examined using the CFA method, yielding a model CMIN of 104.787 with df 68, CMIN/DF 1.541, and p=0.03. Fit indices included GFI 0.965, CFI 0.985, NFI 0.959, and RMSEA 0.048. Covariances reflect the relationships between the latent variables: conceptual and human skills at 0.66, conceptual and technical skills at 0.66, and human and technical skills at 0.78. The relationship between leadership skills and leaders was assessed by marginal means estimation. As leaders ascend the organizational levels, conceptual skills show the most significant increase, followed by human skills at the middle levels, and technical skills at the primary levels.


keywords:

Leaders, Leadership, National Assembly of Lao PDR, Skills


References:


ADB. Asian Development Bank. (2013). Lao People's Democratic Republic: Skills &
Knowledge for Greater Growth and Competitiveness in Lao PDR: Skills for Quality Jobs
and Development in Lao PDR (A Technical Assessment of the Current Context).
Retrieved
from
https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/18694/ACS65930WP0P
12550200Box382165B00OUO090.pdf
ADB. Asian Development Bank. (2014). Lao PDR Civil Servant Skills Survey. Retrieved from
https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/project-documents/46068/46068-001-tacr-02.pdf
Black, W., & Babin, B. J. (2019). Multivariate data analysis: Its approach, evolution, and
impact. In B. J. Babin & M. Sarstedt (Eds.), The Great Facilitator: Reflections on the
Contributions of Joseph F. Hair, Jr. to Marketing and Business Research (pp. 121-130).
Springer International.
Bolden, R. (2004). What is leadership? Centre for Leadership Studies, University of Exeter.
Brown, M. E., & Treviño, L. K. (2006). Ethical leadership: A review and future directions. The
Leadership Quarterly, 17(6), 595-616.
Brown, T. A. (2015). Confirmatory factor analysis for applied research (2nd ed.). The Guilford
Press.
Burnes, B., & Cooke, B. (2012). Review article: The past, present and future of organization
development: Taking the long view. Human Relations, 65(11), 1395-1429.
Byrne, B. M. (2001). Structural equation modeling with AMOS, EQS, and LISREL:
Comparative approaches to testing for the factorial validity of a measuring instrument.
International Journal of Testing, 1(1), 55-86.
Childs, S. (2016). The good parliament. University of Bristol.
Coghill, K., Holland, P., Kinyondo, A., Lewis, C., & Steinack, K. (2012). The functions of
Parliament: Reality challenges tradition. Australasian Parliamentary Review, 27(2), 55-
Comrey, A. L., & Lee, H. B. (1992). A first course in factor analysis (2nd ed.). Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates.
Emary, I. M. M. E., & Brzozowska, A. (2017). Shaping the Future of ICT: Trends in
Information Technology, Communications Engineering, and Management (1st ed.).
Ferris, G. R., et al. (2005). Development and validation of the political skill inventory. Journal
of Management, 31(1), 126-152.
Field, A. (2005). Discovering statistics using SPSS (2nd ed.). Sage Publications.
Goretzko, D., Pham, T. T. H., & Bühner, M. (2021). Exploratory factor analysis: Current use,
methodological developments and recommendations for good practice. Current
Psychology, 40(7), 3510-3521.
Greenleaf, R. K. (1977). Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power
and Greatness. Paulist Press.
Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., Anderson, R. E., & Tatham, R. L. (1998). Multivariate
data analysis (5th ed.). Pearson.
Hao, M. J., & Yazdanifard, R. (2015). How effective leadership can facilitate change in
organizations through improvement and innovation. Global Journal of Management and
Business Research, 15(9), 1-6.
House, R. J., & Shamir, B. (1993). Toward the integration of transformational, charismatic,
and visionary theories. In M. M. Chemers, & R. Ayman (Eds.), Leadership theory and
research: Perspectives and directions (pp. 81-107). Academic Press.
Hurley, A. E., Scandura, T. A., Schriesheim, C. A., Brannick, M. T., Seers, A., Vanderberg, R.
J., & Williams, L. J. (1997). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis: Guidelines,
issues, and alternatives. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 18(6), 667-683.
Kaiser, H. F. (1974). An index of factorial simplicity. Psychometrika, 39(1), 31-36.
Katz, R. L. (1955). Skills of an effective administrator. Harvard Business Review, 33, 33-42.
Kline, R. B. (2023). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling. Guilford
Publications.
Kranz, G. (2011). Companies draw coaching plays, but managers' skills could be technically
foul. Workforce Management, 90(6), 1-3.
LaoFAB. (2022). 9th Five-Year National Socio-Economic Development Plan 2021-2025.
Retrieved from https://laofab.org/document/view/5031
Lee, S.-Y., Poon, W.-Y., & Bentler, P. M. (1994). Covariance and correlation structure
analyses with continuous and polytomous variables. Lecture Notes-Monograph Series,
24, 347-358.
Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370-396.
Mumford, M. D., Todd, E. M., Higgs, C., & McIntosh, T. (2017). Cognitive skills and
leadership performance: The nine critical skills. The Leadership Quarterly, 28(1), 24-39.
Mumford, M. D., Zaccaro, S. J., Harding, F. D., Jacobs, T. O., & Fleishman, E. A. (2000).
Leadership skills for a changing world: Solving complex social problems. The
Leadership Quarterly, 11(1), 11-35.
Mumford, T. V., Campion, M. A., & Morgeson, F. P. (2007). The leadership skills strataplex:
Leadership skill requirements across organizational levels. The Leadership Quarterly,
18(2), 154-166.
Nemoto, T., & Beglar, D. (2014). Developing Likert-scale questionnaires. In N. Sonda & A.
Krause (Eds.), JALT2013 Conference Proceedings (pp. 1-20). Tokyo: JALT.
Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and Practice (8th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Nkansah, B. K. (2011). On the Kaiser-Meier-Olkin’s measure of sampling adequacy. Math
Theory Model, 8, 52-76.
Scullen, S. E., Mount, M. K., & Judge, T. A. (2003). Evidence of the construct validity of
developmental ratings of managerial performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(1),
50-66.
Shek, D. T. L., & Yu, L. (2014). Confirmatory factor analysis using AMOS: A demonstration.
International Journal on Disability and Human Development, 13(2), 191-204.
Stevens, J. P. (2012). Applied Multivariate Statistics for the Social Sciences. Routledge.
The National Assembly of Lao PDR. (2015). The Constitution of Lao PDR. Retrieved from
https://na.gov.la/
The National Assembly of Lao PDR. (2015). The Law on the National Assembly of Lao PDR.
Retrieved from https://na.gov.la/
UNDP. United Nations Development Programme. (2021). Parliament’s Role in Implementing
the
Sustainable
Development
Goals.
Retrieved
from
https://www.undp.org/laopdr/publications/parliaments-role-implementing-sustainable-
development-goals-lao-version
UNDP. United Nations Development Programme. (2023). The Sustainable Development Goals
in Lao PDR. Retrieved from https://laopdr.un.org/en
Vroom, V. H. (2000). Leadership and the decision-making process. Organizational Dynamics,
28(4), 82-94.
Vroom, V. H., & Jago, A. G. (1988). The new leadership: Managing participation in
organizations. Prentice-Hall.
Vroom, V. H., & Yetton, P. (1973). Leadership and decision-making. University of Chicago
Press.
Yamamoto, H., Fujimori, T., Sato, H., Ishikawa, G., Kami, K., & Ohashi, Y. (2014). Statistical
hypothesis testing of factor loading in principal component analysis and its application
to metabolite set enrichment analysis. BMC Bioinformatics, 15(1), 51.
Yukl, G., & Gardner, W. L. G. I. (2020). Leadership in Organizations (Global Edition, 9th
ed.). Pearson.


DOWNLOAD PDF

Back


Google Scholar logo
Crossref logo
ResearchGate logo
Open Access logo
Google logo