Research in Sports Management and Movement Behavior

The relationship among servant leadership style, team effectiveness, and team performance in the Iranian men's Volleyball pro-league teams

Authors

Shiva Azadfada
Fereydoon Tondnevis
Anooshiravan Kazemnejad
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among servant leadership, team effectiveness, and team performance of the Iranian men's volleyball pro-league teams. Descriptive co-relational used as a research design. The statistical sample included players (n=173) and assistant coaches (n=66) from 15 teams. The data collected were gathered using two instruments: (a) The Organizational Leadership Assessment for Sports Teams that adjusted by researcher from The Organizational Leadership Assessment (Laub, 1999), (b) Team Excellence Survey (Larson & LaFasto, 1989). By conducting a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), all agent factors of two instruments were identified. Pearson, and Spearman correlation, t-test, simple, and multiple regressions were used for data analyzing. The results showed that players' perceptions of servant leadership were moderate and assistant coaches' perceptions of servant leadership were excellent. There was a statistically significant and positive correlation among servant leadership, team effectiveness, and team performance. In addition, servant leadership was a significant predictor for team effectiveness and team performance. The results of this study supported the application of servant leadership in professional sports.

Keywords

Servant Leadership
Team Effectiveness
Team Performance
Research in Sports Management and Movement Behavior
Volume 3, Issue 6 - Serial Number 5
December 2013
Pages 159-175