Abstract
The aim of our research is to examine the relationship between the personality traits and leadership orientations of table tennis athletes. The 273 athletes licensed in Turkey Table Tennis League participated in our research. The Leadership Orientation Scale and orientations of the athletes were determined by applying The Big Five-50 Personality Test developed by Bolman and Deal (1991) and Goldberg (1992), respectively. The Big Five-50 Personality Test determining the Leadership Orientation Scale and orientations of the athletes was adopted in Turkish by Dereli (2003) and Tatar (2017). "Independent sample T test" and "one-way analysis of variance" techniques were used to determine the differences according to demographic variables. Pearson correlation analysis was used to determine the relationship between personality traits and leadership orientations of athletes, which constitute the main purpose of our study. A significant difference was found according to the variables of gender, age, education, and years of play of the participant over between personality traits and leadership orientations. However, it has been determined that there is no significant difference according to the leagues they play. It is seen that there are positive relationships between athletes' personality traits and leadership orientations. It is possible to say that the personality traits of table tennis athletes are effective on their leadership orientation.