Effects of a sport leadership programme on the perceptions of university students about their leadership competencies

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a sport leadership programme (ESLP) on variables related to the leaders’ perception regarding instrumental, personal, and systemic skills in university students. In doing so, the second purpose was to analyse the trans-cultural validity of the Cuestionario de Evaluación de Competencias Transversales de Grado (CECTGRA). Participated 61 students as leaders, 25 mentors and 25 employers, from five European countries. The design was pre-test-post-test, following a longitudinal approach of 24 months to evaluate the effects of the ESLP on variables related to the leader’s perception. An adaptation of the CECTGRA was administered. The questionnaire was valid and reliable to know the effects of the ESLP on the students’ perceptions. However, the sports leaders did not improve their perceptions of competence regarding development, mastery and relevance after the application of the programme. From the finding of this study it is recommended to improve the programme based on the leadership competencies to develop, the teaching-learning methodologies to follow, the activities to implement, and the roles to determine.