Servant Leadership in Intercollegiate Athletics: Follower Perceptions of NCAA Division II Athletic Directors

Leadership in the intercollegiate athletic setting has come under pressure in recent years due to problem of unethical behavior and falling short of the expectation of serving students in higher education. While servant leadership has been examined in many different contexts, the literature is limited within the intercollegiate athletic setting. The problem that was addressed in this study was to better understand the degree to which servant leadership was an appropriate leadership style in the administration of intercollegiate athletics in relation to the levels of organizational citizenship behaviors and job satisfaction which were reported by athletic department employees. This quantitative, correlational study examined the relationship between the perceived servant leadership style of the leader and the followers self-reported job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behaviors. The leaders in this study were athletic directors within National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II athletic departments. The sample population consisted of paid staff members associated with NCAA Division II athletic departments. The Servant Leadership Survey, the Organizational Citizenship Behavior Scale, and the Job Satisfaction scale, were used to develop a 60-item research questionnaire. The questionnaire was administered at four NCAA Division II institutions in the State of Oklahoma which resulted in 93 participants in the study. A statistically significant result was revealed in the relationship between organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and servant leadership ( r = .28, p < .01) and between job satisfaction and servant leadership (r = .53, p < .01). A regression was then calculated between servant leadership scores and OCB (beta = .28, R2 Change = .07) and servant leadership scores and job satisfaction (beta = .53, R2 Change = .28) which revealed that both OCB and job satisfaction were significant predictors of servant leadership at the p < .01 level of significance. These findings were consistent with the current literature of servant leadership. A multiple linear regression revealed that job satisfaction was a better predictor of servant leadership than OCB (beta = .51, p < .01). The results of the study added to the limited literature on servant leadership in the intercollegiate athletic context. Recommendations for future research include conducting the study within different intercollegiate athletic setting, such as NCAA Division I and III, NAIA, and NJCAA to provide further information on employee performance outcomes associated with servant leadership in the sport setting.