Athletes' beliefs about leadership in elite sport

Richard Fryer

Oral Defence of DissertationMSc Sport & Exercise Psychology

Faculty of Health SciencesStaffordshire University

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Beyond the coach-athlete dyad: Aqualitative analysis of athletes’ beliefsabout leadership in elite-levelAustralian rowing

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Introduction

• Leadership is an important factor in organisational performance.

• Leadership is viewed as a key aspect of the future success of sporting nations, including Australia

• Much of the sport research has assumed leader is synonymous with coach

• The present study explored athlete views on leadership to complement the significant body of leader views on leadership that exist

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Literature

• Assumed synonym of leader = coach sits most closely with dyadic relationship described in the Leader-Member Exchange theory of Leadership (LMX).

• Asssumes that leadership is a hierarchical and role-defined concept.

• Contemporary models may offer different insights:– Distributed model of leadership– Social identity theory– Authentic leadership

• A follower perspective on leadership has arguably been overlooked in the literature

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Research Aims

1. The applicability of Leader-Member Exchange theory versus more contemporary models of leadership

2. Insight into athlete perspectives on leadership in sport3. Inductive creation of a set of characteristics of leadership by

the followers4. Provide insight into changing needs of leaders throughout an

athlete’s career

It was expected the research would help identify how leaders in sport could better contribute to the creation of a positive and successful performance environment.

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Design

• Qualitative design• Semi-structured interview format• Skype Interviews• Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA)

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Participants

• 6 athletes (3 male, 3 female)• Ages ranged from 22 to 30 (M = 26.33, SD = 3.01)• 5 rowers, 1 coxswain• All represented at State level• 2 represented Australia at Junior World Championships• 4 represented Australia at U23 World Championships• 2 represented Australia at Senior A events• 1 member of an Australian Olympic Games team

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Procedure

• Institutional ethics approval• Email communication direct to athletes and coaches• Participant Information Sheet• Verbal and then written informed consent• Interviews undertaken over internet (Skype) due to logistics

requiring it (researcher in the USA at time of study)

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Key Interview Questions

• When you think about leaders and leadership in rowing, what or who do you think about?

• In what ways has you perspective changed over time?• Can you describe how people in leadership roles typically

behave in your experience?• In what ways, and in what circumstances, do these behaviours

change?• In what ways do you feel these changes have had an impact

on your performance?• What advice would you have for leaders in your sporting

organisation to help you perform better in the future?

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Results

• Interviews ranged in duration from 22 to 54 minutes ( M=37 mins, SD = 12.33)

• Verbatim transcripts yielded 15,000 words of data• IPA produced 31 lower-order themes• 9 higher-order themes• 3 super-ordinate themes

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Theme 1 – Procedural Justice

• Related to athletes’ beliefs about the fairness and transparency of selection decisions made by leaders

• Consisted of 3 higher-order themes:– Transparency– Fairness– Respect for decisions

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Theme 2 – Value of Experience

• Related to athletes’ stated preferences to be led by people (particularly athletes) who had been there and done it before.

• Consisted of 3 higher-order themes:– Role models– Changes through career– Inexperience

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Theme 3 – Authentic Support

• Related to the need to be led by someone who genuinely believed in them and in their abilities and would back them in difficult situations.

• Consisted of 3 higher-order themes:– Belief in the athlete– Back me– Positive environment

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Discussion of Findings

• Athletes viewed leadership as being more complex than just a synonym for the role of a coach.

• Whilst team coaches (not so those more remote from the athlete) were viewed as having a leadership role, other athletes were seen as the primary source of leadership for most.

• Fairness, belief, trust, authenticity and support for the athletes were seen by athletes as being the subject matter of leadership

• Contemporary leadership theory can perhaps better explain the dynamics that are present in sport when viewed from the athlete’s perspective.

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Limitations

• Single researcher qualitative methodology• Perceptual distance – do performance directors provide

leadership?• Generalisability of findings

– Participant numbers– Qualitative method– Single sport

• Data quality due to internet connection issues• No real insight into changes throughout the career

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Future Research

• Quantitative exploration of athlete views• Broaden to different sports and different countries• Look simultaneously at athlete and coach perspectives

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Conclusion

• The present study adds a follower perspective on leadership to the body of research of this subject in sport.

• Raises questions as to the applicability of the dyadic coach-athlete leader-follower relationship proposed by LMX

• Discussed in the context of contemporary leadership theory• Implications for leadership development activities in sport,

particularly the transition of successful athletes into leadership positions.

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Thank you

• Questions