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With the Women’s National Basketball Association recently tipping off its 29th season during a massive surge in popularity for women’s sports, a team of faculty members from the Ģ������Ƶ College of Business has completed a research project they consider a “slam dunk” in the arena of leadership studies.

And while the “four corners” offense from days of old may resonate more with basketball fans than the “four factors framework of success,” the Ģ������Ƶprofessors believe their study offers lessons for building effective teams not only in the world of sports but also for business organizations.

The faculty members shared their findings in an article titled “Applying the Four Factors to the WNBA and Exploring Shared Leadership as a Fifth Factor” published in the March 31, 2025, edition of the Journal of Behavioral and Applied Management.

Hollye Moss, Ģ������Ƶprofessor of management, was in the role of shooting guard for the faculty team, serving as lead author for the article. Providing assists were colleagues Bryan Schaffer, assistant professor of management; Mariano Garrido-López, associate professor of management; Yue Hillon, professor of management; A.J. Grube, professor of sport management and dean of the College of Business; and Debra Burke, professor of business administration and law.

Lead author Moss’ participation in a sports analytics class provided the jumping off point for the study, which builds upon existing studies into the four factors of shooting, turnovers, rebounding and free throws on the success of male teams in the National Basketball Association, said co-author Schaffer.

“There was plenty of prior research on the four factors for men’s basketball but nothing on women’s basketball. The initial question was whether or not the four factors – and the associated percentages – would also hold for the WNBA,” he said. “Additionally, we were interested in whether there were other factors more on the human or interpersonal side of metrics that would be relevant for team success.”

An important additional factor for this study under that human and interpersonal category is “shared leadership” where leadership responsibilities are distributed among team members rather than being centralized in a single individual.

“The findings from our research suggest that the four factors are valid and credible criteria that can be used to set meaningful targets for players. The part that is important here has to do with a key goal-setting concept, which suggests that members will only be motivated by goals if they deem those goals to be relevant and credible,” Schaffer said.

“Consistent with management theories of motivation, the evidence from our study shows a clear link between success on the four factors and team performance. This link is clearly a source of motivation in that heightened self-confidence around the four factors drives effort toward goals,” he said.

For their study, the Ģ������Ƶresearchers examined WNBA team data from 1997 through 2019, also looking at whether the relative importance of the factors of success changed over time and any impact from the emergence of shared leadership. The 2020 season and those that followed were not included in the study in a purposeful effort to avoid potential anomalies related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study found a strong link between the criterion-based goals of the four factors of shooting, turnovers, rebounding and free throws and the overall motivation and performance of a team as an atmosphere of shared leadership develops from building trust, establishment of credibility and effective performance feedback.

“The role of shared leadership cannot be understated,” Schaffer said. “There is ample research supporting our theoretical model showing the potential favorable impact of collective efforts toward team success. Shared leadership allows for an enhanced understanding of members’ roles and relationships. It is consistent with empowerment and responsibility sharing.”

 While the study specifically examines factors that lead to success of professional women’s basketball teams, the researchers say their findings are applicable to the business world in general.

“Our research connects performance analytics with management principles, providing actionable insights for team leadership across multiple contexts,” Schaffer said. “The empirical findings and the proposed model of shared leadership can be applicable to any work team environment. The data, coupled with our conceptual model, have important linkages to organizational leadership in any type of business.”

The study indicates that proven measures of success, such as the four factors, represent criterion-based indicators that can be used for effective goal-setting and motivation, he said.

“From a leadership perspective, sharing leadership in a team-based context provides employees with a sense of empowerment. This often facilitates synergistic levels of performance resulting from reciprocal task interdependence and support,” he said. “We believe that our inclusion of shared leadership in the extended model should offer important guidance for how managers can realize such benefits.”

Returning to the wide, wide world of sports, the use of shared leadership seems to be particularly applicable in the context of the WNBA – a finding that also is pertinent for leaders of any business or organization, Schaffer said.

“At least some research has shown, for example, that in terms of team composition, teams with higher percentages of female representation showed a greater potential for success with shared leadership,” he said. “However, all teams, regardless of composition, should have the capacity to benefit from this leadership approach.”

The study reinforces that the direct influences of shared leadership have the potential to improve team effectiveness through enhanced efficacy, trust, commitment and role, Schaffer said, adding that additional research could help operationalize the relationship with specific criterion-based organizational goals.

Or, put another way, this one could be headed to overtime.