Self-Perceptions of Leadership Ability and Achieving Styles of Female Student-Athletes

Abstract

This study examined female student-athletes' self-reported leadership ability and achieving styles and the relationship of individual and team sport female student-athletes' self-perceptions of leadership ability and achieving style preferences. An on-online survey consisting of a composite variable of 12 leadership-indicator items and the Achieving Styles Inventory was used to examine the research questions. The sample included 30 female student-athletes competing in Division I National Collegiate Athletic Association athletics at a Mid-Atlantic public institution. The results indicated individual sport female student-athletes have a significantly greater preference for using the Competitive Direct Achieving Style than team sport student-athletes. While individual and team sport female student-athletes demonstrated a similar perception of leadership ability, the team sport student-athletes consistently saw their achieving practices as being leaderly while the individual sport student-athletes saw only the Power Direct achieving style as being leaderly. Implications for enhancing student-athletes' relational leadership capacities are discussed.