Peer Leadership and

Ethical Conduct:
Team Captains’ Perceptions of
NCAA Athletic Conference Codes of
Ethics
Major Themes In Codes of Ethics
• Sportsmanship
• Values
• Creating and Maintaining a Healthy
Competitive Environment
• Compliance with Rules and Decisions
• Equitable Treatment
• Welfare of Athletes
• Professional Conduct of Coaches and
Administrators
For a code of ethics to be effective:

Be part of organizational culture

Must be embraced by leaders

Be relevant to the stakeholders

in the code
 Peer Leadership Team Leaders in Sport

• Role Models • Lead by example

• Greater sense of • Little emphasis on
belonging and personal issues
community • Preach respect for
teammates and high-
performance
expectations
 What do team captains know/believe about
codes of ethics and the efficacy and
compliance with them?

Questions to
be answered Do team captains agree with different
designations of unethical conduct?
through the
study
Do team captains agree with the themes
most listed in codes of ethics?
 Men’s Women’s

High-Profile: Basketball High-Profile: Basketball

College Team Low-Profile: Soccer Low-Profile: Soccer
Captains used
Individual: Golf Individual: Golf
in survey
 • Did not fully know their conference’s code of
ethics or show support for it
What do team • Encourage ethical conduct among
captains know teammates; team is responsible for regulating
about the codes of ethical conduct
ethics? • Did not feel like teammates followed their
lead in following ethical conduct.

Do team captains
• Overall agreed
agree with
• Physical abuse, negative recruiting,
designations of verbal abuse, public criticism of officials
unethical conduct?

Do team captains
agree with themes • Athlete welfare, sportsmanship, healthy
found in their code competitive environment all rated highly
of ethics?
DISCUSSION
 Team captains agree with the code of ethics, but do not know how
to relate it to their position as a team leader
 May not be fully embracing their role and encouraging ethical
behavior among teammates
 Look to coaches to communicate conduct, focus on team culture
 Captains not familiar enough with code of conduct; should be
introduced to it by coaches and given plans on how to address
behavior that isn’t appropriate
Team Leaders agree with the themes found in codes of
conduct, but do not think that they are effective in
encouraging ethical behavior among fellow teammates

Know their role in motivating teammates, but not in

encouraging ethical conduct

All 3 sports had similar rankings; differences between

genders. Males less likely to agree with conduct codes
than women, less likely to be behavior role models