Coach competence, justice, and authentic leadership: An athlete satisfaction model

Abstract

This study analyzed the relationship between athletes' perception of coach competence and their satisfaction, mediated by the influence of authentic leadership and perceived justice in team sports players. A cross-sectional study carried out with 115 (49.6% women and 50.4% men; 17.96 ± 2.85 years old; 8.18 ± 4.67 years of experience), soccer (53.9%), and handball (46.1%) players, all members of performance teams. The player's perception of coach competency, authentic leadership, justice, and satisfaction with the coach was measured. Correlation between variables and comparison throughout gender, sport, and experience were analyzed. Also, a multiple sequential mediation model was tested (coach competence → authentic leadership → coach justice → satisfaction with the coach, 95% CI 10,000 bootstrapping). There was a significant relationship ( p < 0.05) between all the variables, differences in the perception of satisfaction with the coach based on sport, and the perception of coach justice related to the years of experience in the sport. The multiple sequential mediation model (ɖ21 = 0.468; p < 0.001; IE = 0.098; CI = 0.020; 0.183), and the total indirect effect (IE = 0.310; CI = 0.138; 0.479) were significant. In conclusion, the results suggest that athletes emphasize that if the coach is competent and promotes justice to achieve the athlete's satisfaction without neglecting the influence of their authentic leadership style, this can strengthen their relationship and satisfaction with the coach.

Athletic justice: Scale development and validation

“…The results confirmed that the scale could be used as a valuable tool in examining the construct of AJ. Since athletes' perceived fairness toward coaches' decisions and behaviors could build a strong relationship between coaches and athletes [ 6 , 58 , 59 ], future studies could use this tool to extend relevant research by examining the relationships between each dimension and various outcomes, such as quality of relationship between athletes and coaches, team cohesion and commitment, athletes' citizenship behaviors, and individual/team performance. In fact, the body of research on organizational justice has empirically found organizational justice have significant relationships with attitudinal as well as behavioral outcomes [ 2 ].…”

“…In fact, the body of research on organizational justice has empirically found organizational justice have significant relationships with attitudinal as well as behavioral outcomes [ 2 ]. Based on the findings of relevant research regarding the athlete-coach relationship [ [58] , [59] , [60] ], the conceptual framework (as shown in Fig. 2 ) can be developed to describe the relationship between AJ and potential outcomes.…”

Ser un entrenador competente y líder auténtico influye en la satisfacción de las necesidades psicológicas básicas del deportista

“…According to SDT's explanation of the satisfaction of basic psychological needs, the coaching role and its competence exerts a significant influence on athletes' motivation and performance through various mechanisms (Xitao et al, 2021). The way athletes perceive their coaches' behavior and ability to coach them plays a fundamental role in the relationship between the two (Soto-García et al, 2023). In this sense, it is common for coaches to priorities knowledge and ability to coach athletes over other psychosocial variables such as leadership or justice, nevertheless, recent evidence supports the relevance of prior the attention on these variables into the sports context (Bosselut et al, 2018;De Backer et al, 2021;.…”

“…In the middle of the space between these two variables, many other factors affect coach-athlete interaction, as well as sport performance and athlete satisfaction. In response, some authors have investigated the role of psychosocial elements such as leadership or fairness in athletes' perceptions of coaches (Bosselut et al, 2012;De Backer et al, 2011;Leo et al, 2019;Pires et al, 2022;Soto-Garcia et al, 2021, 2023. Leadership in sport is described as a process which the coach, manager or even the same athletes can influence the motivation and behavior of the others (athletes/teammates) to look for and work for achieve a common goal (Turnnidge & Côté, 2018).…”

“…An authentic leader is conceived as someone interested in developing the necessary competencies, as well as promoting autonomy in the control and direction of decisions about the practice of their athletes (Soto-García et al, 2023), which should translate into benefiting the SNPB (Pulido et al, 2020). Previous studies have been reported the relationship between coach competency and leadership behavior (Bosselut et al, 2012), or coach competency with BPN satisfaction (García-Calvo et al, 2014;Pulido et al, 2020), as well as analyzed coaching leadership and BPN (Bandura & Kavussanu, 2018;Soto-Garcia et al, 2021), while the study of Kao and Tsai (2016) reported the mediational role of the coach competency over the transformational leadership and the athlete satisfaction relationship.…”