The sample coefficient alpha is affected by leptokurtic true score distributions, or skewed and/or kurtotic error score distributions. Therfore, I would like to found a alternative to Cronbach's alpha.
Correlations are relatively robust with regard to kurtosis, and the most likely effect is to restrict the range of the correlation so that it cannot reach a value of 1.0. That means that you would be under-estimating your correlations, leading to a conservative estimate for Alpha. So, if you have an Alpha value of .80 or above, that would be a strong indication that there is a high level of shared variance among your indicators.
Matthias Kohl, yes, anything that affects your correlations will affect your alpha. So, if your correlations have problems due to outliers, then so will your alpha.
“A Nonparametric Coefficient of Internal Consistency”, Robert R. Trippi and Robert B. Settle, Multivariate Behavioral Research, Vol. 4, No. 11, (October 1976) pp 419-424
I'm using SPSS, unfortunately it seems like it is not possible to get "robust Cronbach's alpha" as an output. David L Morgan , which program you suggest I use?