Abstract:
The purpose of the study was to examine the perceived coaches’ leadership
behaviour of SHS athletes and how these perceptions influence athletes’
satisfaction in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Three research questions and two
hypotheses were generated to guide the research. A descriptive cross-sectional
survey was used to conduct the research. A sample size of 1,002 respondents
selected using multi-stage sampling from a population of 16,200 Senior High
School Athletes in Ashanti Region who participated in organised interschool
sports competitions in the 2019/2020 academic year were used for the study.
Adapted version of leadership scale for sports and adapted version of athletes’
satisfaction questionnaire were the instruments used for the study. Data were
analysed using means and standard deviation, multivariate multiple linear
regression and multivariate analysis of variance. Results revealed that; i) the
most perceived coach leadership behaviour by the athletes were positive
feedback (M=4.53; SD=.53), training and instruction (M=4.50; SD=.51) and
social support (M=4.17; SD=.75); ii) athletes were generally satisfied with the
following: personal treatment from coaches (M=4.49, SD=.60), strategy from
their coaches (M=4.32, SD=.70), their ability utilization (M=4.29, SD=.71),
their individual performance (M=4.22, SD=.78) and team performance
(M=4.02, SD=1.04), iii) the perceived use of any or the combination of
positive response, education and social support leadership behaviours by
coaches increase the probability of SHS athletes being satisfied with their
ability utilisation, the strategy of their coaches, personal treatment from
coaches and satisfaction with individual performance; (iv) a noteworthy
difference in perceived coaches‘ leadership behaviours for male and
female SHS athletes {F (5, 995) = 14.11, P <. 001}, v) the perceived coaches’
leadership behaviour by SHS athletes significantly differed across the type of
sports {(F (5, 995) = .488, P <. 001}. Based on the findings, it is recommended
that the coaches of SHS in Ashanti Region offer young and emerging athletes
much verbal praise as a form of reward, support and special attention to
correcting their mistakes during sport competitions.
