PERSONALITY AND LEADER BEHAVIORS IN COLLEGIATE FOOTBALL - A MULTIDIMENSIONAL APPROACH TO PERFORMANCE

The present study, based on Chelladurai's multidimensional theory of leadership (Chelladurai & Carron, 1978), sought to determine if athletes' personality and specific perceived leader behaviors of their coach are predictive of performance in collegiate football. Prior to regular season competition, collegiate football players (n = 272) from three southeastern United States universities completed Cattell's Sixteen Personality Factor (16 PF) questionnaire and the Leadership Scale for Sports (Perception version). Following regular season competition, players were grouped by their coaches into one of three athletic performance categories (Regulars, Substitutes, and Survivors). It was found that the personality traits extroversion, emotional stability, tough-mindedness, and group-dependence, along with the perceived leader behaviors of training and instruction, democratic behavior, autocratic behavior, social support, and rewarding behavior, were predictive of performance in collegiate football, independently and interactively. The findings are discussed in relation to Chelladurai's multidimensional theory of leadership. © 1990.