It is well established that how athletes and teams are organized and led influence elite sport success. However, relatively few have studied how elite skiing is organized and led at the opera tive level. Moreover, we lack research on how the organizational context that a coach pertains to shape and influence his/her leadership practices. This is somewhat surprising as both sports and organizational contexts varies considerably - especially across nations. The purpose of this project is to better understand the organizational context that the elite team coach is situated in and how leadership in the coach role is pursued to meet individual and organizational aims. It is planned as a qualitative case study, where strategic documents and interviews with elite coaches and leaders constitute the major sources of data. It is desirable to include cross-country skiing and/or biathlon and alpine skiing in several nations. Drawing upon institutional theory and sensegiving, the study aims to capture how coaches´ leadership practices are shaped by formal organizational structure, societal and organizational values, and their interactions with athletes and entourage. Knowing more about how the societal and organizational context influence leadership in the coach role provide an opportunity to criti cally discuss what can be transferred (and not) across nations. As the project is in the start phase, there is no preliminary data. The presentation will focus on how recent studies inform the study and invite other researchers to participate in order to secure an international approach.
© Copyright 2022 Book of Abstracts. 4th Nordic Winter Sports Conference "Performance in snow sports: Translating science into practice" 3rd-4th October, 2022, Mid Sweden University, Campus Östersund, Sweden. Veröffentlicht von Swedish Winter Sports Research Centre at Mid Sweden University. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.