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To view a copy of this licence, visit: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ 93 The contribution of Leadership Behaviour to the Performance of Selected Ethiopian Sports Federations Samson Wondirad 1A-D* , Tesfaye Asgedom 2BD , Aschenaki Taddese 3AC 1Department of Sport Science, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 2Department of Sport Science, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 3Department of Sport Science, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between leadership behaviour and performance of selected Ethiopian sports federations. The researcher used a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design. The population of the study from sport federations employee aimed to fill questionnaire was (N = 126) and selected using availability sampling technique. Leaders from both federation for the purpose of interview was (N = 6) selected using snowball sampling technique. The quantitative data analysis was processed using IBM SPSS Amos 23.0 software. Structural equation modelling (SEM) has been used to study this relationship. Confirmatory Factory Analysis (CFA) was used to test the hypothesis between leadership behaviour and performance observed variables and their underlying latent constructs exist. The finding of study found that there was a positive correlation between leadership behaviour and performance of selected sport federations. The Selected Ethiopian Sports Federations was recommended to provide the performance appraisal of their employees that aimed to improve the organization performance. Keywords: leadership behaviour; performance leadership; transformational leadership. Corresponding author: *Samson Wondirad, Department of Sport Science, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; E-mail: smwonde@gmail.com Article History: Received: February 19, 2023 Accepted after revision: April 17, 2023 First Published Online: April 30, 2023 Authors’ contribution: A) Conception and design of the study; B) Acquisition of data; C) Analysis and interpretation of data; D) Manuscript preparation; E) Obtaining funding. Cite this article: Wondirad, S., Asgedom, T., & Taddese, A. (2023). The contribution of Leadership Behaviour to the Performance of Selected Ethiopian Sports Federations. Indonesian Journal of Sport Management, 3(1), 93-100. https://doi.org/10.31949/ijsm.v3i1.4673 INTRODUCTION Leadership is a burning issue in every walk of life (Celestine, 2015), an integral part of the literature on management and organizational behaviour for several decades (Asrar-ul-Haq&Kuchinke, 2016) and without leadership, it is unthinkable to run an organization (Harsh &Nayana, 2020). Perceived Leadership behaviour in Italy, Greece, Portugal and Spain results in different sports federation outcomes and International Swimming Federation ranked them depending on different parameters (Madella, Bayle, & Tome, 2005). Other studies reveal that need-based leadership facilitates a favourable working environment; however other non-profit sports organizations did not consider the existing reality of their organizations (Owolabi&Chukwuma, 2007). In the same vein, another study suggested that organizational effectiveness has different quadrants or dimensions to be identified and measured (Shilbury & Moore, 2016). Confirming that leadership was used in public and private sectors enhances the performance (Pushpanathan, 2016). Other study reported that which type of leadership style improves organizational performance was unknown (Joseph & mailto:smwonde@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.31949/ijsm.v3i1.4673 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6359-9274 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5552-1266 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3207-1164 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6359-9274 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5552-1266 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3207-1164 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6359-9274 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5552-1266 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3207-1164 Indonesian Journal of Sport Management https://ejournal.unma.ac.id/index.php/ijsm/ Wondirad et al., Volume 3, Number 1, 2023, 93-100 94 Idisape, 2016). A similar study suggested that fair resource allocation to all working staff improves organizational performance (Marjan, Reza, Akbar, & Farideh, 2021). In the same scenario, using transactional and transformation helps to improve organizational performance, however, Laissez-faire couldn’t improve organizational performance (Alfonso, Francisco, & Arturo, 2021). Ireland Athletics federation confirmed that 32% of organizational performance was determined by unknown variables (Asrar-ul-Haq & Kuchinke, 2016). Ethiopian football national team didn’t qualify in the last 20 years, it didn’t qualify for 2002 and 2006. Moreover, Ethiopian football national team was disqualified in 2010. Furthermore, didn’t qualify for 2014 and 2018, finally, today ranked 146 in the world, the lowest in the decade. Ethiopian national football is losing its position and credibility continuously in the last decade and there was a strong issue with managing sports and performance sustainability in the Ethiopian National Football team at the continental level as well as International Level in the last decade. It might be happened due to some socio-political issue in the Ethiopian football federation (Kanhaiya, 2018). Other local literature reveals that the Ethiopian football team was found poor in the statistics of possession, passing, passing effectiveness and on-target shots. It was not possible to have a saying about which style and formation of Ethiopian football national team was side used (Belayneh, 2017). This study focused to identify the relationship between leadership behaviour and performance of selected Ethiopian sports federations. METHODOLOGY Study area In this study, Addis Ababa city Administration city was selected, because it has been the heart of work and business, and all national sports federation, especially Ethiopian Athletics and Football Federation were found in Addis Ababa City Administration. For the research purpose, it was convenient to investigate the problem severity and to collect the data from respondents. Due to the aforementioned rationales, the researcher has chosen Addis Ababa as the study area to conduct the research entitled the relationship between leadership behaviour and performance of selected Ethiopian sports federations. Study design The mixed-methods sequential explanatory design consists of two distinct phases: quantitative followed by qualitative (Creswell et al. 2003). In this design, a researcher first collects and analyses the quantitative data. The data were collected and analyzed second in the sequence and helped explain, or elaborate on, the quantitative results obtained in the first phase. The second, qualitative, phase builds on the first, quantitative phase, and the two phases were connected in the intermediate stage of the study. Having this in mind, the researcher used a mixed- methods sequential explanatory design for this study purpose. Population of the study The population of the study includes both Ethiopian Football Federation and Ethiopian Athletics Federation. Ethiopian Football Federation (N = 59) and Ethiopian Athletics Federation (N = 67). The total target population (N = 126). In this context, Indonesian Journal of Sport Management https://ejournal.unma.ac.id/index.php/ijsm/ Wondirad et al., Volume 3, Number 1, 2023, 93-100 95 the sports organization employees including sports experts, supportive staff, coaches, and referees were part of this study. The population of this study was selected using available sampling technique. Leaders from Ethiopian Football Federation (N = 3) and the Ethiopian Athletics Federation (N = 3) were selected using the snowball sampling technique. Variables of the study In this study, Ethiopian Athletics and Football Federation performance with subscales of flexibility, resources, planning, productivity, information, stability, and skilled workforce was the dependent variable of the study. This enables the respondents to fill the perception using a measured by 5-Likert scale questionnaire (Shilbury& Moore, 2016). Leadership behaviour was the independent variable of the study which was measured using a structured questionnaire. This research instrument is a compilation of structured questions which was given to respondents for their completion or responses. The questions were close-ended multiple-choice questions giving respondents a choice from a range of answers based on the 5- point Likert-scale style of rating. The participants had choices either to agree or disagree with the statements made within the range. This is to ensure that the choice of answers is directly addressed which makes data analysis very simple. On the scale 1, is the lowest score and 5 is the highest. Before the administration of the questionnaire, the importance of the research was explained to the respondents, and respondents were encouraged to be truthful and diligent with their responses to make the research worthwhile (Celestine, 2015). Source of data This study used primary data collection instruments such as standardized questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and Focus group discussions. Among standardized questionnaires, Ethiopian Athletics and Football Federation leadership behaviour was measured by a standardized questionnaire which was developed (Celestine, 2015), and Ethiopian Athletics and Football Federation performance was measured by a standardized questionnaire developed by (Shilbury& Moore, 2016). Besides this, a semi-structured interview was made with the Ministry of culture and sport of Ethiopia (n = 7), and a focus group discussion (n = 1) was conducted with Ethiopian Athletics and Football Federation staff. Methods of Data Analysis The quantitative data analysis was processed using IBM SPSS Amos 23.0 software. SEM assumptions were fulfilled. CFA was used to test the hypothesis between leadership behaviour and performance observed variables and their underlying latent constructs exist. Path analysis was used to describe the directed dependencies among a set of variables. In addition to this, the qualitative data obtained from field notes recorded semi-structured interviews and FGD were entered into Nvivo, version # 12. The data were transcribed immediately right after data collection. Indonesian Journal of Sport Management https://ejournal.unma.ac.id/index.php/ijsm/ Wondirad et al., Volume 3, Number 1, 2023, 93-100 96 RESULTS Demographic characteristics of participants In this study, respondents from 18-54 years respondents’ were filled out the questionnaire; the majority of them were male, while few of them were female; their monthly income ranges from 2500 to more than 10,000birr; working experience swings from less than 5years to greater than 21 years old; had different coaching licence in football as well as in athletics coaching having minimum of national-level certificate to international level licence and in the same way, respondents had different officiating licence level in football and athletics from national to international level. Figure 1. SEM relationship between Leadership behavior and performance of selected sports federation A structural equation model generated through AMOS was used to test the relationships. A good fitting model is accepted if the value of CMIN/df is < 5, the goodness-of-fit (GFI) indices (Hair et al.,2010); the Tucker and Lewis (1973) index (TLI); the Confirmatory Fit Index (CFI) (Bentler,1990) is > 0.90 (Hair et al, 2010). n addition, an adequate-fitting model was accepted if the AMOS computed value of the standardized root mean square residual (RMR) < 0,05, and the root mean square error approximation (RMSEA) is between 0,05 and 0.08 (Hair et al.,2010). The fit indices for the model shown in Table fell within the acceptable range: CMIN/df = 2.64, TLI = 0.93, CFI = 0.95and RMSEA = 0.18. Indonesian Journal of Sport Management https://ejournal.unma.ac.id/index.php/ijsm/ Wondirad et al., Volume 3, Number 1, 2023, 93-100 97 The squared multiple correlation was 0.19 for sports federation leadership behaviour, this shows that 3.61% variance in sports federations’ performance. The covariance between Performance and leadership behaviour was estimated as the impact of sports federation leadership behaviour on sports federations’ performance. he impact of sport federation leadership behaviour on sport federations’ performance was positive and significant (b = .19), t = 5.35, P < 0.05), supporting H1. Model fit indices and hypothesis results were presented in the below table. Table 1. The impact of leadership behavior on sport federations’ performance Hypothesized relationship Standardized estimates t-values p-values Decision Leadership behavior - .>performance 0.19 5.35 0.00 Rejected R-squared Performance 0.036 Model fit CMID/df =2.64, TLI = 0.93, CFI =0.95, and RMSEA =.0.018 DISCUSSION The finding of this study shows that there was a positive between leadership behaviour and performance of the selected Ethiopian Sports federations. This indicates that positive leadership enhances the performance of selected Ethiopian Sports federations. In agreement with this finding, another study confirms that transactional leadership behaviour is usually negatively related to long-term performance. Transformational leadership has a positive influence on employee organizational performance (Asrar-ul-Haq&Kuchinke, 2016). Research conducted by International Olympic Committee identified objective organizational performance. The problem was how much organizational performance was contextualized and implemented in the worldwide national federation (Winand et al., 2010). In addition to this, appropriate leadership enhances performance, every step adding value to leadership improves organizational performance (Abdikarin, Hussein, &AliIbrahim, 2013). Few studies reveal that there exists a significant relationship between transformational leadership and employee performance outcomes. However, the laissez-faire leadership style showed a negative relationship with employee performance outcomes in terms of effectiveness, and employee satisfaction (Asrar- ul-Haq&Kuchinke, 2016). In combination, transformational, transactional and laissez- faire leadership explain 68% of the variation in rated effectiveness, 66% of satisfaction, and 71% of subordinates’ extra effort. Transformational and transactional leadership are both positively associated with effectiveness and transformational leadership shows a larger effect size than transactional leadership. Laissez-faire leadership was negatively associated with the effectiveness variables (Farshad, Mahboub, & Ali, 2011). Contrary to this finding, another study reveals that an organization that focused on a very little or minimal employee-centred style of leadership negatively impacts performance (Abdikarin et al., 2013). Indonesian Journal of Sport Management https://ejournal.unma.ac.id/index.php/ijsm/ Wondirad et al., Volume 3, Number 1, 2023, 93-100 98 CONCLUSION The study finding suggests that there was a positive relationship between leadership behaviour and performance of selected Ethiopian Sports federations, so leadership behaviour among selected sports federations positively influences the performance of selected Ethiopian Sports federations. Furthermore, consecutively organizational performance quadrants were explained from the smallest to the largest value by their plans, resources, flexibility, workforce, productivity, stability and information. From lowest to highest selected federations leadership behaviour was explained by authoritative, management, influence, reward, simulations, considerations and motivation respectively. The manager of the selected Ethiopian Sports Federations has to focus on effective leadership behavior toward their employee that will improve their performance of employees. In addition, the manager of the selected Ethiopian Sports Federations should provide the performance appraisal of their employees based on the system of their promotion to better satisfaction. The managers have to give more emphasis to the unachievable plan, the scarce resources utilized, and less flexibility in sports federations' performance. Finally, the managers better give attention to authoritative, management, and influence of leadership behavior of sports federations. Leadership behavior and performance dimensions contracts on a five-point Likert scale have been used for the present study but a seven-point Likert scale could have given the data more of a continuous nature. A survey study with subjective measurement of the constructs has its limitations as far as generalizability is concerned. The incoming researchers could focus on these limitations while designing their research. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The author thanks Jimma University for their Ph.D. scholarship Award and Addis Ababa University Sport Science Department advisors for their multiple stages of advice and feedback on the study. CONFLICT OF INTEREST All author declares that this manuscript has no conflict of interest with any party. REFERENCES Abdikarin, A., Hussein, E., & AliIbrahim, M. (2013). The effect of leadership behaviours on staff performance in Somalia. Educational Research International, 2(2). Alfonso, M., Francisco, C., & Arturo, D. (2021 ). Leadership Style in Amateur Club Sports: A Key Element in Strategic Management. Journal of Sustainability, 13. doi:10.3390/su13020730 Asrar-ul-Haq, M., & Kuchinke, K. P. (2016). Impact of leadership styles on employees’ attitude towards their leader and performance: Empirical evidence from Pakistani banks. 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