رهبری تحول‌گرا و پرخاشگری بچه ها در محیط گروه: مطالعه فرا-زمانی کوتاه‌مدت

Social learning theory posits that one crucial way individuals learn how to behave is by observing and modeling the behavior of salient others. We conducted a short-term longitudinal study using multisource data on 183 teenaged ice hockey players (M age = 13.39 years) in 16 hockey teams to test the effects of 3 potentially salient leadership influences (team coaches, team players, and parents) on players' on-ice aggression. We tested a cross-level mediated model in which player aggression (penalty minutes) as measured by referees was the criterion variable. After controlling for prior levels of player aggression, team-level aggression mediated the relationship between team-level coach transformational leadership and player aggression. Parents' transformational leadership did not influence player aggression when assessed simultaneously with team-level coach transformational leadership. Consistent with social learning theory, the findings suggest that transformational leaders model prosocial behavior for followers.

Social learning theory (Bandura, 1973 and Bandura, 1977) proposes that aggression is learned vicariously through observation of and interaction with role models. According to social learning theory, when young people witness role models (e.g., parents, peers, teachers) behaving in certain ways in social situations, they are likely to learn such behaviors. Whether they subsequently choose to enact them or not will depend on person and environmental cues. The relevance of social learning theory-based predictions has been supported in research on adolescent aggression (e.g., Dishion, Spracklen, Andrews, & Patterson, 1996), family violence (e.g., Brezina, 1999), workplace aggression (e.g., Glomb & Liao, 2003), and athlete aggression (e.g., Kreager, 2007). Aggression can include verbal behavior, non-verbal behavior (e.g., ostracizing), and physical behavior (e.g., physical assaults) (Anderson & Bushman, 2002). The current study focuses on how social learning theory explains the relationship between transformational leadership and physical aggression in the context of youth ice hockey.

Returning to the question posed at the beginning of this paper: How do role models such as leaders in organized settings influence others to “do good”?, our study demonstrates the direct and indirect effects of transformational leadership on individual and group prosocial behavior. Our research also points to the importance of assessing multiple role models simultaneously in understanding leadership influences on follower behavior. While our results await replication on older samples of males and females in non-sport contexts, possible implications from the current findings are strengthened given that they are based on multi-source longitudinal data and modeled across two levels of analysis.