The relationship between role ambiguity and the level of aggression in football players of the Iranian Premier League

Master's thesis in the field of general orientation physical education

Abstract

The present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the relationship between role ambiguity and the level of aggression in football players of the Iranian Premier League. Using descriptive-correlational research, three teams (72 players) were selected as a sample from the teams present in the premier football league, season 92-93, who were willing to cooperate with the researcher. Players' role ambiguity was measured using the role perception scale of Beaucamp et al. In order to record the level of aggressiveness of the players, the video of the games of the selected teams, in the first half of the season, was observed and their aggressiveness was recorded in a researcher-made checklist based on the aggression checklist of Roberts et al. Spearman's correlation coefficient and linear regression tests were used to analyze the data. In general, the findings showed that there is a significant relationship between the ambiguity of the offensive role (perception of the role) and the level of aggression of football players. The results of the regression showed that the dimension of role ambiguity (perception of the offensive role) has a significant predictive power for the aggression of football players. In general, it can be concluded that the more the players understand their role and are well aware of their responsibilities, position and role in the team, the amount of their aggressive behavior will decrease accordingly.

-1- Introduction

Sports as a social phenomenon, in today's modern societies, has found a special place in the studies of scholars of various sciences. The various dimensions of this phenomenon have made it beyond a mere competitive matter and its scope has been related to most social issues. Among the various sports fields, the field of football has attracted the attention of the public opinion members of the societies in terms of its attractions and excitement, and the cultural, economic, social and even political aspects related to football have raised it as an industry (Hajbeigi, 2015).

Today, the use of psychology in sports by teams is considered a necessity. In fact, in order to select a young player, the coach should pay attention to his mental and psychological preparation in the same way as he looks at the physical, experimental, etc. Ensuring the mental preparation of players in training and matches and using their maximum mental strength as well as physical strength and tactical strength is of great importance for coaches and teams (Hojatpour, 2018). Undoubtedly, success and victory in today's championship sport requires higher expectations than what existed before. Therefore, meeting these special expectations and needs has led sports professionals to pay more attention to the existential aspects of athletes and to try to improve and increase their skills (Sehshuri, 2019).

Football, like other sports, requires a high level of concentration, attention, accuracy, mental preparation, etc. A football match is 90 minutes, but it keeps the minds of the players and coaches busy for several thousand minutes and affects other activities and areas of life. Defeat or victory, refereeing decisions and mistakes, expulsion, team elimination, losing a penalty, relegation, etc. can occupy the players' thoughts, minds and psyches for days and even weeks and even years, and this is where the constructive role of psychology in football is more than It creates pre-effect (Hojatpour, 2013).

In order for a football team to be able to maintain its efficiency in a relatively long period of time (as long as a football season) and even more, it must pay attention to the psychological factors that affect the mind and psyche of its players. Therefore, paying attention to psychological factors improves the performance and efficiency of players and minimizes the negative effects that some factors may have on the performance of athletes.

In the present study, among the variables related to the performance of athletes, the variables of role ambiguity and aggression, which can have a negative effect on performance, will be examined. Role ambiguity independently predicts the efficiency and effectiveness of a person's performance (Beauchamp et al., 2002) and negatively affects the athlete's performance (Abolghasmi et al., 2015).

In the current research, it is an attempt to identify the relationship between the variables of role ambiguity and aggression in the players of Iran's premier football league and examine the unpleasant consequences of these variables on the performance of the players.

1-2- Statement of the problem

The goal of all sports teams is to maximize the physical and mental strength of the players and eliminate the disturbing factors that may negatively affect the sports performance. Football, like other human activities, is tied to psychological concepts such as anxiety, excitement, psychological pressure, aggression, etc., and each of these variables can affect the performance of athletes. Among the variables that play a decisive role in team sports, especially football, are role ambiguity and aggression.

Individual roles are very important in the environment of teams, and it is these roles that, by being together, make teams successful. Therefore, it is important to know whether the players have accepted these roles or not and whether they are satisfied or dissatisfied with their roles (Bahlke et al., 2012). Understanding the responsibilities of the individual role is defined as one of the most important team variables in sports (Eys et al., 2005). Lack of knowledge about these responsibilities and expectations related to a particular situation has been introduced as role ambiguity (Kahn et al., 1964). In fact, role ambiguity occurs when it is not clear what a person's role is, including when it is not clear what the purpose of a certain job or playing position in sports is or what are the limits of its responsibilities (Droudian et al., 2013). Experiencing role ambiguity can lead to contradictory reactions, feelings of tension, reduced self-confidence, stress and dissatisfaction in the individual (Kahn et al., 1964). Also, role ambiguity is associated with increased physical and cognitive anxiety (Beauchamp et al., 2003) and decreased role effectiveness (Beauchamp et al., 2002) and can have a negative effect on performance (Abolghasmi et al., 2015).

Football as a team game requires coordination of people. Each player in the team has a responsibility and must fulfill his responsibility in the best way in an atmosphere full of spectators, and a small mistake can cause irreparable damage to the team. Therefore, the players not knowing their role in different situations makes them not know their duty. Uncertainty of the task, in its turn, will be the cause of inconsistency and possibly not performing team activities properly. The lack of familiarity with the role of other teammates and the differences between players due to work interference and resulting discomfort will be other consequences of such a situation (Rajbzadeh, 1385). Numerous researches conducted in the organizational literature indicate that role ambiguity as a stressful factor in different environments for people at the behavioral, psychological and physiological level brings noticeable and significant consequences, which in some way creates the basis for weakening It provides the efficiency and effectiveness of people. One of these consequences is deviant and aggressive behavior. According to the organizational literature and based on the stress-imbalance-compensation model, it can be said that stress by creating negative emotional states towards oneself and work tasks, by disrupting the emotional, behavioral and cognitive balance of people, leads them to unethical and deviant behaviors such as aggression (Golparvar, 2019). In addition, researches conducted in work environments have repeatedly shown that role ambiguity as one of the dimensions of stress has a significant predictive power for anger and aggression (Adibi et al., 2013). Aggression refers to behavior that is done with the intention of harming another person, and involves complete disregard for the health of others and possibly oneself. The consequences of aggression may be physical or psychological (Coackly, 1988). In fact, aggression causes the undesirable use of mental energy, prevents the achievement of victory and the experience of joy from sports, and may hinder the player's concentration and reduce performance by causing anger and excitement (Tolaei, 2011). Parallel to the movement and development of football in Iran, in recent years, violence and aggression have spread in matches and turned into bitter and unfortunate incidents both in the national and international arenas. This issue has caused a lot of concerns for those involved and interested in football (Ramzani-nejad et al., 2018).