Cross-cultural comparison on leadership in sports

Previous research studies in this research group emphasize the importance of shared leadership in sports teams. Besides the coach and the team captain, also informal leaders can fulfill important leadership roles on and off the field, thereby having a large impact on the team’s effectiveness. In line with the social identity approach to leadership, research evidence shows that these athlete leaders are perceived as good leaders to the extent that they manage to create, represent, and nurture a shared identity in the group, a shared feeling of ‘we’ and ‘us’. Although, the evidence on the importance of shared leadership and identity leadership appears to be promising, all current evidence is based on studies in countries such as the United Kingdom, Belgium and Australia, typically considered to be western cultures. As a result, researchers have not accounted for the influence of cultural and societal structures that may be at play while studying leadership. The primary objective of this PhD is to test the cross-cultural validity of this previous evidence and develop an understanding and extend leadership approaches in the eastern sporting context.