The Antecedents of Coaches’ Interpersonal Behaviors: The Role of the Coaching Context, Coaches’ Psychological Needs, and Coaches’ Motivation

TLDR

The study examined how coaching context affects coaches’ psychological needs, motivation, and interpersonal behaviors within a self‑determination theory framework. The authors conducted two studies: a 56‑coach survey to identify contextual factors, followed by a 424‑coach survey to assess perceptions of those factors, psychological needs, motivation, and interpersonal behaviors. Findings showed that administration, athlete motivation, colleagues, parents, professional development, time, and work‑life most strongly impacted coaches, and that perceptions of context either supported or thwarted psychological needs, which in turn predicted autonomous or controlled motivation and corresponding supportive or thwarting interpersonal behaviors, confirming the link between context, needs, motivation, and coaching behavior.

Abstract

This study explored how the coaching context influences coaches' psychological needs, motivation, and reported interpersonal behaviors, using self-determination theory. In Study 1, 56 coaches identified how contextual factors influence their coaching experience. Coaches identified administration, athlete motivation, colleagues, parents, professional development, time, and work-life as having the largest impact on them. In Study 2, 424 coaches reported on their perceptions of the factors identified in Study 1 and their psychological needs, motivation, and interpersonal behaviors. Structural equation modeling analyses suggested perceptions of the coaching context supported or thwarted their psychological needs, which positively or negatively predicted their autonomous and controlled motivation. Coaches' autonomous motivation predicted their reported supportive interpersonal behaviors and controlled motivation predicted thwarting behaviors. Overall, the results provided additional support for understanding how the coaching context, coaches' psychological needs, and their motivation for coaching relate to their coaching behaviors.