Coach leadership and motivational climates as antecedents of cohesion and perceived roles in semi-professional football players

Abstract

The study’s main aim was to apply a theoretical model in order to explain how types of leadership exercised by coaches might influence motivational climates and how these contextual factors can determine group cohesion and dissatisfaction with players’ roles. the participants were 377 footballers who played in the 14th third-division group of the spanish national league. They filled in several instruments directed at assessing leadership, the motivational climate, cohesion and dissatisfaction with roles. The results mainly showed that leadership behaviours that foster positive feedback predict a task-involving motivational climate while autocratic leadership predicts an ego-involving one. in turn, a task-involving motivational climate predicts team cohesion, while an ego-involving climate predicts dissatisfaction with roles. The main conclusion is that coaches should adopt positive leadership behaviours in order to foster a suitable climate among group members and thus boost integration and positive interrelations.