Performance Progress and Leadership Behavior

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between athletes’ perceptions of their coaches’
leadership behaviours and their rating of their own satisfaction with their performance progress whilst under
the guidance of this coach. Participants were 120 competitive athletes (M age = 20.3 years, SD =4.6) from
different individual sports. Participants completed the Leadership Scale for Sports (LSS) and rated their own
perceived satisfaction with their own performance progress underneath their present coach on a scale of 1
‘extremely dissatisfied’ to 7 ‘extremely satisfied’. A one-way ANOVA analyses was used to test the differences
between three composite satisfaction categories of ‘not satisfied (1-4)’, ‘satisfied’ (5) and ‘more than
satisfied’ (6-7). The results indicate that the athletes who are most satisfied with their performance progress,
evaluate their coaches’ leadership behavior higher in the following domains: Training and Instruction,
Democratic behavior, Social Support, and Positive Feedback. Findings from the present study highlight the
importance of coaches’ training and instruction behavior. The present study also highlights that the
coach-athlete relationship must entail elements of reciprocity, trust, as well as being of a genuine and
helping nature, and that coach’s democratic behaviour, supportive style and their ability to give positive
feedback seem to support such values.