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Leadership at distance: English football fans’ trust in Sven-Göran Eriksson and David Beckham during the 2006 World Cup

2010; British Psychological Society; Volume: 6; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.53841/bpssepr.2010.6.1.3

2396-961X

Cherrie Daley, Sandy Wolfson,

Youth Development and Social Support

Transformational theorists suggest that trust plays a critical role in effective leadership. A series of three web-based surveys was employed to gauge football fans’ perceptions and appraisals of trust within the uncertain context of the 2006 World Cup competition. Utilising a mixed methods approach with a repeated measures design, 113 fans rated trust in leaders Sven-Göran Eriksson (England manager) and David Beckham (England captain) at three key stages of the tournament. Fans also expanded on their trust ratings with open-ended responses. The unstable nature of trust was demonstrated by the significant decline of trust following the team’s exit. Perceptions of each leader as trustworthy were related to the outcomes of the team, implying that leader behaviours are viewed primarily in light of their associated outcomes. Fans’ trust appraisals incorporated factors such as competence, integrity and leader intentions. Of particular note was the finding that features of models of transformational leadership such as charisma, articulation of goals, personal risk and unconventional behaviour also emerged strongly within fan appraisals of Sven-Göran Eriksson.