Scheduled for Sport Management Free Communications, Friday, April 12, 2002, 7:30 AM - 8:30 AM, San Diego Convention Center: Room 7B


Sport Management Internships: The Impact of Site Supervisor Leadership Behavior

John Dollar and Michael Sagas, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX

Leadership has been linked to the overall effectiveness of organizations (Branch, 1990; Doherty, 1997; Doherty & Danylchuk, 1996 and Scott, 1999). Furthermore, the topic has drawn considerable attention throughout the vast amount of literature contending that “good leaders” hold the key to organizational effectiveness (Bass, 1990; Bennis and Nanus, 1985, and Nahavandi, 1990). Weese (1999 and 1995) applied the socio-cognitive leadership theories to sport organizations to predict a model of successful leadership for sport executives, through the “Five C’s to Successful Leadership” framework. Credibility, compelling vision, charismatic communicator, contagious enthusiasm and culture builder (Five C’s) can be learned and/or refined, and thus available to all leaders (Weese, 1999). Internship site supervisors are designated leaders within the sport organization or agency, and as such, exert leadership influences toward an assigned intern. Therein, because the leadership effectiveness may have consequences for interns, this study was undertaken to measure leadership effectiveness of the site supervisor and the impact this behavior had on the seccess of the internship. Data was collected using the valid and reliable 40-item Five C’s Questionnaire (Weese, 1999), and measured the impact of each of the leadership behaviors on the success of the internship (as perceived by the inter). Participants were 52 males and 36 females (N=88) undergraduate seniors in the last semester of program, and having just completed a 13-week internship experience. Each was requested to complete the 5 C’s (50 item) Likert Scale Leadership Questionnaire. ANOVA results indicated males had a higher mean for the compelling vision item (M=4.51, F=4.18), F1,87=4.59, p<.05 and for the credibility item (M=4.53, F=4.15), F1,87=5.62, p<.05, than did female respondents. Regression analysis indicated that compelling vision (â=.75, p<.01) was a positive predictor of willingness to accept employment. This outcome supports the views of Weese (1995) and Kouzes & Posner (1993). Implications from the results of the study will be presented. Furthermore, future research is currently underway to assess (1) gender issues and (2) assessments of jobs and career opportunities, and discussion will provide additional venues for potential future research endeavors.
Keyword(s): administration/mgmt, leadership development, student issues

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