The psychological contract and leadership styles : performance of a semi-professional rugby team

Abstract

This dissertation examines the influence of the psychological contract and leadership styles on the perceived performance of semi-professional rugby teams. Little research has connected the psychological contract and sport, and little research has investigated the effect of specific leader behaviours on the performance of sport teams. It was therefore the objective of this dissertation to analyse the content of the psychological contract of rugby team members, and to determine the correlation between the psychological contract and the perceived performance of rugby team members. This dissertation also set out to analyse the content of the preferred leadership style of the team captain and the own leadership style of team members, and to determine the correlation between leadership styles and perceived performance. A longitudinal research design was chosen, along with a non-probability sampling technique. The sample consisted of rugby team members from a prominent rugby-playing university in South Africa. Questionnaires were used to investigate the content of the psychological contract and preferred leadership style and own leadership style, as well as their relationship to perceived performance. The results indicated no correlation between the psychological contract and perceived performance, nor any correlation between leadership styles and perceived performance. A strong correlation, on the other hand, was found between the preferred leadership style of the team captain and the own leadership style of team members. A strong correlation between institute obligations and player obligations was also established.