Abstract

ARCE, Constantino; TORRADO, Julio; ANDRADE, Elena  and  ALZATE, Mónica. Informal leadership assessment in sports teams. rev.latinoam.psicol. [online]. 2011, vol.43, n.1, pp.157-165. ISSN 0120-0534.

Studies into sport leadership are focused, mostly, in the formal leadership of the coach, in which Chelladurai's Multidimensional Model of Leadership is the principal theoretical reference. However, another kind of informal leadership can be observed in sport teams: peer leadership. Research on peer leadership is not as advanced as research on the formal leadership of the coach, neither in theoretical terms nor in the assessment. To overcome the shortcomings presented in previous investigations about informal leadership, the aim of the present research has been the development of a scale for the evaluation of the peer leadership in sport teams, which was designed asking a sample of 407 senior Spanish football players to evaluate the characteristics of sport leaders over a total of 54 indicators. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were developed, also reliability analysis and evaluation of the internal consistency of factors. The results offered a 30 indicators scale, grouped into five factors denominated: empathy, task orientation, influence in decision-making, sport values and social support. Satisfactory fit indexes have been obtained for the model, for the reliability of items and for the internal consistency of factors. A secondrange exploratory factor analysis was performed, with the result that task orientation is positioned separated from the other four primary factors, which are grouped into one social orientation factor.

Keywords : informal leadership; evaluation; sport.

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