Transformational Leadership Inspired Extra Effort: The Mediating Role of Individual Consideration of the Coach-Athlete Relationship in College Basketball Players

Recep Gorgulu

doi:10.13189/ujer.2019.070120

Abstract

Transformational leadership has been shown to impact a wide range of outcomes in sport. Previously, researchers have begun to examine the mechanisms by which transformational leadership exerts its impact on followers. However, there is still little known about the mediating variables between transformational leadership and followers' performance. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to examine the relationship between transformational leadership and the leader-inspired extra effort with the potential mediating role of the coach-athlete relationship in college basketball players. The differentiated transformational leadership inventory (DTLI) was used to assess college coaches' leadership behaviours and the coach-athlete relationship questionnaire (CART-Q) was used to examine the athletes' perceptions of the relationship with their current coach. Accordingly, the leader-inspired extra effort scale (LIEE) was used to investigate the college basketball players' perception of their effort. The sample comprised 78 college basketball players (43 men, 35 women; Mage = 21.60, SD = 3.05). Results did not provide support for full mediation except the direct effects between individual consideration and leader-inspired extra effort had a significant relationship ( = .491; SE = .143, p ˂ 0.01) as well as the individual consideration and the closeness ( = .069; SE = .101, p ˂ 0.01). The results highlight that coaches and educators should endeavour to display transformational leadership behaviours as they are related to coach and athlete relationship on the athletic effort.

Highlights

Coaches are mostly considered being leaders in sport.Many researchers used the words coach and leader interchangeably, thereby reinforcing the presumption that the coach is a leader [7]
The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between transformational leader behaviour and leader-inspired extra effort as well as to investigate the mediating role of coach and athlete relationship
The results demonstrated that transformational leadership was positively associated with leader-inspired extra effort and this relationship was partially mediated by closeness in college basketball players

Summary

Introduction

Coaches are mostly considered being leaders in sport.Many researchers used the words coach and leader interchangeably, thereby reinforcing the presumption that the coach is a leader [7]. Coaches are mostly considered being leaders in sport. All coaches are not considered as effective leaders. To further understand the characteristics of coaches’ leadership style, as researchers have examined successful coaches by assuming that success demonstrates leadership [7]. Since the late 1970s, ‘’the multidimensional model [1] and the mediational model (2) of coach leadership have been the main frameworks for studying the behaviours, actions and styles that coaches employ in their coaching process’’ [3, p.413]. Several lines of research have developed over recent decades that to articulate the athletes’ perception of leader behaviours and it appears to be significantly associated with physical and psychological outcomes for athletes from different ages and levels such as from college level to a professional level of sport [4]

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