Transformational Leadership and Athlete Satisfaction: The Mediating Role of Coaching Competency

Abstract

Drawing on social cognitive theory, we examine the relationship between coaches’ transformational leadership and athletes’ evaluations of coaches’ coaching competency. We also investigate how coaching competency can mediate the positive effect of coaches’ transformational leadership on athletes’ satisfaction. Using path analysis with bootstrapping techniques, we analyzed 397 competitive volleyball players to test our research model. Our results revealed that (a) coaches’ transformational leadership has a positive effect on coaching competency, and (b) coaching competency mediates the positive effect of coaches’ transformational leadership on athletes’ satisfaction. Implications for coach education and sport psychology in terms of theory and research are discussed.