Examining perceptions of leadership and the student-athlete experience

Leadership research has long stemmed from a leader-centric perspective with a focus on individual leaders (Fairhurst & Grant, 2010). Scholars have suggested a need for in-depth examinations of leadership using an observer-centric, social constructionist perspective that can provide new and insightful viewpoints to the conceptualization of leadership in sport management (Billsberry et al., 2018). This dissertation used the social construction of leadership to examine student-athletes at an NCAA Division I institution’s perceptions of leadership. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the experiences of NCAA Division I student-athletes at a single university to understand how they perceive and conceptualize leaders and leadership. A phenomenological (Patton, 2015) approach was employed for 43 semi-structured interviews with a diverse range of student-athletes to gain an in-depth understanding of how they conceptualize leadership, what they seek from leaders, and how they determine whether a leader is successful. Data analysis was done using a collaborative approach to qualitative analysis (Richards & Hemphill, 2018). Peer debriefing (Lincoln & Guba, 1985), researcher triangulation (Olsen et al., 2016), and maintaining a researcher journal (Miles et al., 2015) were done to enhance trustworthiness. Findings of the study have been presented as three unique manuscripts that collectively describe the perceptions and experiences of the participants. Theoretical and practical implications, and future research directions are discussed in each manuscript, and synthesized in the conclusion chapter.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Recreation, Sport, and Tourism

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2023

Author dc:creator

• Simms, Jake

Contributors dc:contributor

• Richards, Kevin Andrew
• Liechty, Toni
• Fredericks, Jacob
• Swanson, Steve

• Leadership
• Sport Leadership
• Intercollegiate Sport
• Implicit Leadership Theories
• Social Construction Of Leadership

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2023 Jake Simms

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/122112

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F122112