Gender Differences in Preference and
Perception of Coaching Behaviors
Eddie T.C. Lam , Angela Cunningham , Siu-Yin Cheung , Demetrius Pearson , & Sungwon Bae
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Cleveland State University, Hong Kong Baptist University, University of Houston, Texas Tech University
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Introduction
Results
Sport leadership is considered as the behavioral process that
can influence the performance and psychological well-being
of athletes (e.g., Barrow, 1977; Horn, 1992). For this reason,
coaching leadership behavior has been the major theme for
coach-athlete relationship studies. Most previous studies on
gender issues have concentrated on comparing the gender of
coaches (e.g., Frankl & Babbitt, 1998; Simmons, 1997), few
studies have focused on comparing male and female athletes.
Results of the one-way MANOVA analysis indicated that there
were significant (p < .001) differences in the preference (Wilks
Lambda = 13.675, p < .001) and perception (Wilks Lambda =
16.348, p < .001) mean vector scores between male and female
athletes.
The purpose of this study was to examine the preferred and
perceived coaching behaviors between male and female
athletes. The 60-item Revised Leadership Scale for Sports
(RLSS; Zhang, Jenson, & Mann, 1997) was used for this
study. The RLSS had six dimensions: Autocratic Behavior,
Positive Feedback, Training and Instruction, Situational
Consideration, Social Support, and Autocratic Behavior. Item
responses were based on a 5-point Likert scale: Always (5
points), Often (4 points), Occasionally (3 points), Seldom (2
points), and Never (1 point). The total scores for each
category were obtained by adding the scores of all the items
and then dividing by the number of items in that category.
The higher the scores in that category, the more obvious the
behavior the participant was in that dimension.
Method
Invitation letters were sent out to athletic directors (N=~100)
of NCAA institutions in 2005 to invite them to participate in
the study. A total of 15 athletic directors responded and
indicated they were willing to participate. Survey packages
(cover letter which explained the purpose of the study,
consent forms for the participants, and demographic sheets)
were sent to the athletic directors together with the RLSS.
The study was conducted with the help of head coaches, who
distributed the questionnaires to the athletes of their
respective sport. The RLSS included two versions: (a)
Athletes Preference of Coaching Behavior and (b) Athletes
Perception of Coaching Behavior. It took approximately 20
minutes to complete both questionnaires and the
demographic sheet. Once completed, athletes placed the
questionnaires in the provided envelopes, and the coaches
returned them to the athletic directors. After collecting all the
envelopes, the athletic directors mailed them back to the
researcher with the postage pre-paid priority mail envelopes.
Participants were male athletes (N = 585) from the following
sports: baseball, basketball, soccer, tennis, and track and
field; and female athletes (N = 472) from softball, basketball,
soccer, tennis, and track and field.
SPSS 11.5 for Windows (SPSS, 2004) was used for data
analysis. Boxs M test was used to assess the covariance
matrices for the dependent variables and Levines Test was
utilized to examine the homogeneity of error variances
among the dependent variables. One-way MANOVA was
used to test the differences in the perception and preference
mean vector scores between male and female athletes.
The perception version was significant for both the
Democratic and Autocratic Behaviors (see Table 2). Female
athletes had significantly (p < .05) lower scores in both
dimensions than their male counterparts (Figure 2).
Leadership Style
Democratic Behavior
Positive Feedback
Training and Instruction
Situational Consideration
Social Support
Autocratic Behavior
F
Democratic Behavior
Positive Feedback
Training and Instruction
Situational Consideration
Social Support
Autocratic Behavior
*p < .05
1.128
3.243
1.504
6.208
0.947
63.634
p
.289
.072
.220
.013*
.331
.000**
5
4
Male Athletes
3
Female Athletes
2
5
4
Male Athletes
Female Athletes
2
1
Training and
Instruction
Situational
Consideration
Social Support
Positive
Feedback
Training and
Instruction
Situational
Consideration
Social Support
Autocratic
Behavior
Conclusion
When compared to male athletes, female athletes preferred a
higher degree of Situation Consideration but a lower degree of
Autocratic Behaviors. This suggests that coaches should use
different coaching styles for male and female athletes. In
terms of Situation Consideration, the coaches should consider
factors such as time, environment, skill level, and physical
condition of the athletes before selecting athletes for the
appropriate game position. The coaches should also know
how to differentiate between coaching methods at various
maturity stages and skill levels.
ATHLETES' PREFERENCE OF
LEADERSHIP STYLES
Positive
Feedback
.000**
.836
.120
.145
.256
.000**
ATHLETES' PERCEPTION OF
LEADERSHIP STYLES
Democratic
Behavior
Figure 1: Mean Preference of Leadership Style Scores Between
Male and Female Athletes
Democratic
Behavior
28.340
.043
2.422
2.133
1.290
64.049
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**p < .001
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p
Figure 2: Mean Perception of Leadership Style Scores Between
Male and Female Athletes
Table 1: Univariate Analyses for the Preference of Leadership Styles
Between Male and Female Athletes
Leadership Style
F
**p < .001
Paired-sample t-tests analyses revealed that preference
scores of all dimensions of the RLSS were significant (p
< .05). All preference scores were higher than the perception
scores except Autocratic Behavior, which had lower scores.
SCORES
Purpose
Univariate analyses indicated that only the Situation
Consideration and Autocratic Behavior dimensions of the
preference version were significant (see Table 1). Female
athletes (the red line in Figure 1) had significant (p < .05)
higher preference scores in Situational Consideration but
lower scores in Autocratic Behavior than male athletes.
Table 2: Univariate Analyses for the Perception of Leadership Styles
Between Male and Female Athletes
SCORES
1
1
Autocratic
Behavior
On the other hand, coaches should avoid autocratic behaviors
such as over-emphasis his/her power or authority which can
be counter productive when dealing with female athletes
(Sherman & Fuller, 2001).
In contrast to their female
counterparts, the prominence of coaches personal influence is
not viewed as negative by male athletes (Chelladurai, 1989). In
addition, autocratic leadership behavior would not facilitate
effective communication, which was reported as extremely
valuable by female athletes (Fasting & Pfister, 2000).
