engleski

Sports Leadership and Negative Coaching Behavior as Predictors of Perceived Unsportsmanlike Conduct in Handball

Although sports is the source of many physical and psychological benefits, the pursuit of success as an objective indicator of value often implies the experience of intense pressure. In teams sports, for victory and success, athletes may reach for unsportsmanlike conduct. It is a theoretical and empirical challenge for researchers to detect the constructs that contribute to unsportsmanlike conduct. Thus, this research aimed to explore the role of coach leadership and negative coaching behaviour in unsportsmanlike conduct in handball. One hundred and seventy-two handball players aged 18 to 42 years (Mage = 21.69 (3.89) ; Nfemale = 110) completed online questionnaires measuring the Leadership Scale for Sports – LSS ; Perceived Negative Coaching Behaviour, Legitimacy of Unsportsmanlike Behaviour. We followed theoretical suggestions and formed the sports leadership (Training and instruction, Democratic behaviour, Autocratic behaviour, Social support, Positive feedback), negative coaching behaviour (Insensitivity to athletes' wellbeing, Negative feedback, and Results orientation) and legitimacy of unsportsmanlike behaviour (Legitimacy of serious fouls, Legitimacy of less serious fouls, Legitimacy of verbal aggression) factors and utilized a series of hierarchical regression analyses with sports leadership in the first, and negative coaching behaviour in the second regression step, and the perceived legitimacy of unsportsmanlike behaviour dimensions as criteria variables. The results showed that democratic behaviour, social support, and Insensitivity to Athletes' Wellbeing (at a lower level of statistical significance, p < .1) predicted higher legitimacy of serious fouls. Furthermore, democratic behaviour and results orientation predicted higher legitimacy of less serious fouls (p < .1), while training instructions predicted lower legitimacy of less serious fouls. Finally, autocratic and democratic behaviour (p < .1), social support, and negative feedback predicted higher legitimacy of verbal aggression. The findings suggest that the legitimacy of unsportsmanlike behaviour might be determined by some aspects of coaching styles and behaviour, while other aspects might play no role in unsportsmanlike behaviour. Future research avenues certainly imply identifying theoretical constructs and mechanisms that facilitate or attenuate the manifestation and legitimation of unsportsmanlike conduct.

Sports Leadership, Negative Coaching Behavior, Unsportsmanlike, Handball

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