Catalysts for Change: Unveiling Leadership Behaviours and Interventions of Nature-Based Athletes in Cultivating Pro-Environmental Behaviour among Fans

Abstract: With billions of sports fans all over the globe, athletes have a considerable platform to advocate for the environment and catalyse behaviour change. The purpose of this paper was to explore the role of leadership in athlete environmental activism. Furthermore, this study aimed to add to the existing literature on pro-environmental behaviour change by investigating the interventions performed by nature-based athletes when encouraging their fans to adopt pro-environmental behaviours. In this paper, a qualitative research design was employed and semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten individuals who were identified as fans of nature-based athletes. The collected data was analysed using deductive thematic analysis, based on the leadership theory of Charismatic Leadership (CL) and the pro-environmental behaviour change theory of Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) Theory. The results indicated that all but one of the Charismatic Leadership Behaviours described in theory were performed by nature-based athletes, the exception being “setting goals with moral overtones.” Moreover, the study deduced that all VBN Interventions detailed in the academic literature were made by nature-based athletes when encouraging pro-environmental behaviour. The analysis process also revealed two additional findings: nature-based athletes mainly communicate their activism through social media and nature-based athletes’ fans want their favoured athletes to incorporate pushing for systemic change in their activism, in addition to encouraging individual behaviour change. Finally, a model was proposed that synthesises the theories of CL Behaviours and VBN Interventions, based on the findings of this study. This study contributes to the literature on pro-environmental behaviour change under the VBN framework and Charismatic Leadership. Additionally, this paper explores the role of leadership in athlete activism and athlete environmental activism, two topics which have not been extensively researched.