Trauma-informed Compassionate Leader Behaviors: Showing compassion in the workplace to those that have suffered trauma

The present research study sought to develop a compassion scale – a measure of Trauma-informed Compassionate Leader Behaviors (TICLB) using a total sample size of 949 across three studies. In Study 1a, TICLB items were generated through interviews with trauma survivors using both an inductive and deductive approach. Interview questions and coding schema were informed by theories of compassion and trauma-informed approaches. Items were based on content from interviews. In Studies 1b and 1c, TICLB items were investigated for content validity, to ensure that items measured the focal construct TICLB. In Study 2, the TICLB measure was further refined, and the factor structure examined revealing a bifactor model with one general factor and two specific factors “tangible behaviors” and “intangible behaviors.” Additionally, Study 2 established convergent validity with extant measures of compassion as well as discriminability from conceptually similar constructs (e.g., perceived supervisor support). Study 3 revealed that TICLB predicted employee well-being, employee perceptions of the organization, and employee contributions to the organization. Additionally, Study 3 revealed that TICLB predicts these same outcomes above and beyond general compassion and compassionate leader behaviors. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.