Relationships Among Coaching Success, Servant Leadership, Cohesion, Resilience and Social Behaviors

Abstract

This study examined relationships among coaching success, servant leadership, team cohesion, athlete resilience and social behaviors utilizing responses from over 300 collegiate athletes. Horn’s (2008) model of coaching effectiveness served as the basis from which variables were operationalized and concurrently measured. Bivariate correlation analysis identified significant correlations among servant leadership and coaching success, cohesion and coaching success, cohesion and servant leadership, resilience and coaching success, and resilience and servant leadership, with most relationships moderate to weak. Canonical correlations were used to examine the data in greater depth and significant canonical variants revealed both expected and unexpected relationships. Multivariate analysis of variance results identified a significant main effect and seven significant follow-up analysis of variance tests. Athlete resilience, coach servant leadership and task-based team cohesion all varied significantly across the three levels of coaching success. Results of this study can be used by coaches, athletic administrators and coach educators for coach development.

Coaching competency and trust in coach in sport teams

“…The present study extends the literature on coach–athlete trust relationships 7,9–11,31,32 in that the evaluation of coaches’ ability is a trustworthy characteristic for athletes toward coaches. Zhang and Chelladurai 25 demonstrated that the competence of the coach is an antecedent of athletes’ trust in the coach.…”

“…30 Coaches who are servant-leaders transcend self-interest, express care and concern, and act in the best interest of their athletes, thereby creating a social context in which athletes may reciprocate by trusting. [9][10][11]31 Similarly, mutual feelings in positive closeness (i.e., trust and respect) is reported in literature on the coach-athlete relationship. 7,32 Direct experiences allow athletes to observe leadership behavior and evaluate the trustworthiness of the coach.…”

“…Jowett and colleagues 7,8 have argued that trust is an index for close relationship between coaches and athletes. Moreover, researchers [9][10][11] have labeled trust/inclusion as a typical servant-leader characteristic in sport. In the current study, we employed social exchange theory 12,13 to propose that coaching competency may positively enhance trust in coaches as perceived by athletes.…”

The Influence of the Trainer’s Social Behaviors on the Resilience, Anxiety, Stress, Depression and Eating Habits of Athletes

“…A study by Trigueros, Aguilar-Parra, Cangas-Díaz, Fernández-Batanero, Mañas, Arias & López-Liria [2], support for autonomy positively predicted resilience, while control behaviors indirectly predicted it negatively. Similarly, a study by Gillham, Gillham, & Hansen [62] showed that athletes' resilience developed if there is social cohesion and prosocial behaviour among team members, including the trainer. Similarly a study by Lu, Lee, Chang, Chou, Hsu, Lin, & Gill [63] where they analyzed the interactions between trainer and athlete, from the perspective of the players, showed that those athletes who felt respected and involved by the trainer had greater resilience and less stress and anxiety.…”

Christian sports coaches and servant leadership

“…Nevertheless, Vinson and Parker 33 argued that servant leadership demonstrated excellent potential as a framework on which Christian sports coaches could found their practice. Gillham, Gillham 34 examined the relationship between servant leadership, coach effectiveness and other social behaviours, providing rigorous evidence to suggest that athletes’ may perceive a stronger coach-athlete relationship if they consider their coach to be trustworthy, empathetic and servant-hearted. However, as these authors acknowledge, the evidence concerning the relationship between servant leadership and coach effectiveness was much less strong.…”