Sport Leadership in a Cross-National Setting: The Case of Japanese and Canadian University Athletes

The study explored the differences between Japanese (n = 115) and Canadian ( n =100) university level male athletes in their leader behavior preferences, their perceptions of leader behaviors, their satisfactions with leadership and personal outcome, and the relationships between leader behaviors and satisfactions. The results of MANOVA showed that (a) the Japanese athletes preferred more autocratic behavior and social support while the Canadian athletes preferred significantly more training and instruction; (b) the Japanese athletes perceived higher levels of autocratic behavior while the Canadian athletes perceived higher levels of training and instruction, democratic behavior, and positive feedback; and (c) the Canadian athletes expressed significantly more satisfaction with both leadership and personal outcome than the Japanese athletes. The results of the correlational and multiple regression analyses showed similarities as well as dissimilarities in the manner in which perceived leader behaviors were associated with the satisfaction measures in the two groups. Overall, the results of the study were more supportive of the cultural-influence hypothesis than of the athletic-imperatives hypothesis. Author affiliations: P. Chelladurai is with The University of Western Ontario; H. Imamura is with Chiba University, Japan; Y. Yamaguchi is with the National Institute of Sports and Fitness, Japan; Y. Oinuma is with Tokai University, Japan; and T. Miyauchi is with Waseda University, Japan.