Qualitative study of a Korean elite university soccer team from a vertical leadership and shared leadership perspective

ABSTRACT

This study analyzes the leadership behaviours that have helped shape a successful university soccer team in Korea. More specifically, the research focuses on both vertical and shared leadership in a team. To gain an in-depth understanding of how the ‘Y team’ could have had so much continuous success over an eight-year period, this study uses a total of 16 semi-structured interviews with athletes and coaches. The study showed some first insights that the team can generate excellence even without top-ranked players when operating under a combined vertical and shared leadership approach. Useful implications for current and future soccer coaches exploring how to develop and implement various leadership behaviours were addressed.

KEYWORDS:

• Vertical leadership
• shared leadership
• qualitative study
• case study
• Korea

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical approval

Ethical approval was obtained from author’s institution [IRB no. 201908-0011-01].

Notes

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Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2019S1A5A8035582)