Exploring the effect of selected biographical variables on the dimensions of the Leadership Scale for Sport : a multivariate analysis

Abstract

In a sport context, the coach is often referred to as a leader or manager. While the coach is involved in many relationships which include, liaising with the management and other personnel of the sport organisation where s/he is employed, the governing body of the sport being coached, sport federations, the media and hosts of sport events, the most significant one may perhaps be the relationship with the athletes who s/he coaches. The present study examined student-athletes' perceptions towards their coaches' leadership behaviour from the perspective of selected biographical variables. The leadership behaviour was assessed using the Leadership Scale for Sports (LSS). The purpose was two-fold. Firstly, it was to establish whether participants' scores on the LSS were reliable. Secondly, to determine which biographical variables had an effect on the subscales of the LSS. Participants were 400 student-athletes from two universities in South Africa. Reliability of the LSS scores was determined by computing Cronbach's (1951) alpha which is a measure of internal consistency related to the interrelatedness of test items. An acceptable overall alpha value of .91 was computed. In terms of the biographical variables differences were only established between males and females with respect to Training and instruction and Democratic behaviour. It was concluded that the findings should be useful in giving a sense of the leadership preferences as well as what student-athletes expect of their coaches.