The relationship between emotional intelligence and leadership behaviour characteristics among the directors of sport organizations in Turkey

The aim of this study is to investigate the existance of a possible relationship between the leadership behaviours and emotional intelligence of senior level sports directors in Turkey. The relevant literature is abundant in studies examining this topic on leaders in business, education and military environments, however it has overlooked leaders in sport contexts. The present study attempts to fill this gap as it not only facilitates a description reflecting the typical characteristics of a Turkish senior sport manager, but also reveals a concomitancy between the leadership behaviour and emotional intelligence ability of sport managers. A census of 205 senior sport managers were invited for participation in a survey, representing the nationwide population of directors and secretaries of all Sport Federations and the directors of local Youth Services and Sport Directorships in all cities. The analysis of data gathered from 103 (50.2%) responding sport managers uncovered two main groups of facts. The first of those indicated that emotional intelligence was independent of changes in variables that are time-dependent in their nature, such as age, duration of duty and the lenght of sportsmanship. The second group of findings showed a positive relationship between leadership style and emotional intelligence. Interestingly, this relationship was strong for task-oriented sport managers, as well as for those person-oriented. Possible influence of some research limitations on findings are discussed and implications for future research are provided accordingly.