Influence of Coaches’ Leadership Behaviour on Senior High School Athletes’ Satisfaction in Ashanti Region of Ghana

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.