Hard knock coaching: A cross-cultural study of the effects of abusive leader behaviors on athlete satisfaction and commitment through interactional justice

Abstract

The objective of this study was to examine the direct and indirect relationships between abusive coaching behaviors and athletes’ satisfaction and affective organizational commitment through interactional justice and to explore the differences in the relationships between Hong Kong and Korea. A total of 521 student-athletes (Hong Kong: 232; Korea: 289) in intercollegiate athletics participated in the survey. The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) indicated partial mediations of interactional justice between abusive and supportive coaching styles and satisfaction and commitment. Although the multigroup SEM results revealed no differences in terms of the directions and levels of significance of the relationships among the variables between two countries, there was a significant difference in the size of the effect of abusive leadership on the outcomes between the two groups.