Designing the Self-leadership Model of Elite Athletes (Based on Grounded theory Approach)

Self-leadership is one of theories of leadership, which refers to the process of influencing oneself. Accordingly, the aim of the present study was to design the self- leadership model of elite athletes to determine how elite athletes can use this phenomenon. The present study was conducted qualitatively and by the classic (emerging) grounded theory. 19 experts were interviewed by semi-structured interviews using targeted sampling method and data gathering were completed by the theoretical saturation criterion. A set of open, selective, and theoretical coding methods were used to analyze the qualitative data. The trustworthiness of the findings was confirmed by various methods and calculation of agreement coefficient. According to the results, 93 final codes were created and the self-leadership of elite athletes included four types of cognitive control (13 codes), behavioral control (15 codes), emotional control (8 codes) and managerial control (10 codes), and behavioral control was selected as the main category. Also, two types of environmental and personal constraints (17 codes) have adverse effects on the self-leadership ability of athletes. Self-leadership of athletes can be developed by training and reinforcement strategies (15 codes). Ultimately, the self-leadership of athletes has three positive consequences (15 codes): improved performance, self-esteem, and success, which is success is final than the others. Findings can be considered as the basis for further research and guidance for practical.