Top-down or shared leadership? Examining differences in athlete leadership behaviours based on leadership status in sport

Alison J Krozier ,Tod M Loughed ,Krista J Munro-Šandler

doi:10.5937/fizkul1702086k

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine differences in athlete leadership behaviours based on one's athlete leader status. Intercollegiate athletes (N = 299) self-identified their leadership status (i.e., formal leader, informal leader, follower) and rated the frequency of their own leadership behaviours. Results revealed that formal athlete leaders engaged in Training and Instruction more often than informal athlete leaders; with informal athlete leaders reporting higher frequencies than followers. Further, formal and informal athlete leaders reported engaging in Social Support more often than followers. These findings provide preliminary evidence of a top-down approach to leadership among athletes. No differences were found for Democratic Behaviour and Positive Feedback, suggesting that athlete leadership also is distributed among teammates. Results highlight important practical implications for sport practitioners in regard to athlete leader development.

Highlights

There is an emerging consensus in the sport literature that athlete leadership is important for both individual and team outcomes
The results further identified the leadership behaviours of encouraging teammates and seeking input from teammates as important behaviours of both formal and informal leaders. While these findings suggest that formal and informal leaders are beneficial in that they provide different and similar leadership behaviours to their team, it was not able to assess the relative frequency of behaviour that the different leadership roles exhibit
We examined whether an athlete’s leadership status differentiated an individual’s self-rated leadership behaviours in sport teams

Summary

Introduction

There is an emerging consensus in the sport literature that athlete leadership is important for both individual and team outcomes. It would appear worthwhile to examine factors which may impact the behaviour athlete leaders display One such factor may be an athlete’s leadership status on the team, as researchers have identified multiple athlete leadership roles which exist in sport (Crozier, Loughead, & Munroe-Chandler, 2013; Fransen, Coffee, et al, 2014; Loughead, Hardy, & Eys, 2006). In regard to athlete leadership the role of athlete leader is defined as an athlete occupying a formal or informal role within a team who influences other team members toward achieving a common goal (Loughead et al, 2006) This definition highlights that leadership roles can be shared or broadly distributed among members of the team, and that two types of athlete leader roles exist. Since this definition of athlete leader was proposed, a third role which has been acknowledged by researchers is the role of the athlete non-leader (i.e., the follower) (Crozier et al, 2013)

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