Leadership in Sport

Responsible Leadership Behaviour as a Determinant of Stakeholders' Health and Well-Being

“…Mostoftheearlierliteratureonleadershipbehavioursatthestartofthetwentiethcenturyhighlighted theoriesthatviewedeffectiveleadershipstylesintermsofthetraitsandbehavioursofleaders.However, researchers later introduced other leadership theories such as transformational and transactional leadership, charismatic leadership, shared leadership, authentic leadership, virtuous leadership, servantleadership,andmanymore (Flocy,2007;Frangiehetal.,2017).Asmentionedabove,RLhas emergedinrecentyearswithinacademicandpracticecirclesattachedtoCSRandstakeholdertheory (Houseetal.,1997;Grovesetal.,2011;Waldmanetal2011). Traittheoriestriedtounderstandleadershipbyidentifyingcharacteristicsthatdifferentiated leadersfromnon-leadersorgoodleaders (O'Boyle,2015).Thesetheoriesassertedtheviewthat leadersarebornandnotmade,andweresupportedbybehaviouralgeneticresearch (O'Boyle,2015;Barlingetal.,2011).Thereafter,behaviouraltheoriesofleadershipemergedinanattempttofocus onuniversallyeffectivebehaviouralapproachesofleaders.Acombinationofstudies (Houseetal., 1997)showedtherelevanceoftwokeyconceptsrelatedtobehaviouraltheories:structure(taskoriented),whereclearguidelinesandprocedurestoachievegoalswerespecified;andconsideration (people-oriented),wheretheleader'sbehaviourcentredonmutualrespect,trust,care,andconcern fortheirfollowers (Barlingetal.,2011).Theinitialhypothesisofthebehaviouraltheorieswas thataleaderwithacombinationofstructureandconsiderationwouldbeeffectiveinguidingtheir followerstoachieveorganizationalgoalsaswellasinprovidingthesefollowerswithemotional supportduringtheirjourneytoperformattheirhighestcapacity.However,thesetheorieswere criticizedforbeinginconclusive,andsomesuggestedthatitwasbettertofocusonleadershipthat evolvedtoincludethesituationalmoderatorsthatwerecitedascriticalvariablesforuniversally effectiveleadershipbehaviour:timepressure,leaderdispositions,followercharacteristics,androle ambiguity (Barlingetal.,2011). Thecriticismofbehaviouraltheoriesofleadershipgaveplacetosituationalandcontingency theories,whicharguethatleadershipisdependentonthecharacteristicsofthesituation,including featuresoftheorganization,theworkplace,andthefollowers(Barlingetal.,2011)Otherssuggested thatcontingencytheoryshouldcategorizeleadersastask-motivatedorrelationship-motivated (Fiedler, 1971),withtask-motivatedleadersbeingmoreeffectiveinextremesituations(e.g.favourableor unfavourable situations) and relationship-motivated leaders being more effective in moderately favourablesituations.Inthecontextofthistheory,leadereffectivenessisseenasafunctionofthe interaction between the leader and the situation in which the leader is operating.…”

Changes in authentic leadership over a sport season predict changes in athlete outcomes.

“…Leaders are seen as highly influential within sports environments and can positively or negatively impact followers’ development, well-being, and morality (Vella et al, 2013). Several models of leadership have been proposed in sport, with recent models focusing on the relationships leaders develop and the interactions they have with their followers (O’Boyle et al, 2015). One such model, which centers on relationships and has been positively linked to several desirable outcomes, is authentic leadership (e.g., Walumbwa et al, 2008).…”