A Comparison of Preferred Coach and Athlete Leadership Behaviors
Keywords:
leadership, athlete leaders, coaches, preferencesAbstract
The present study compared preferences for coach and athlete leadership behaviors. Participants included 193 kinesiology students who were current or former athletes who rated their preferences for the frequency of leadership behaviors measured with the coach- and athlete leader-referent preferred-versions of the Leadership Scale for Sports (Chelladurai & Saleh, 1980) and Differentiated Transformational Leadership Inventory (Callow et al., 2009). Results showed a significant difference in preferences for coach and athlete leadership behaviors. Specifically, participants reported a preference for coaches to exhibit training and instruction, democratic behavior, positive feedback, individualized consideration, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, fostering acceptance of group goals, high performance expectations, appropriate role modeling, and contingent reward more frequently than athlete leaders, and for athlete leaders to exhibit more autocratic behavior than coaches. No significant differences were reported for social support. Significant differences between preferences for specific coach behaviors and specific athlete leadership behaviors were reported. The order of preferred frequency for coach and athlete leadership behaviors is described. Findings highlight that coaches are viewed as the primary source of leadership and that transformational leadership is preferred most often. Implications for athlete leadership measurement research and how leaders can more optimally share leadership are presented.
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