ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1531049
This article is part of the Research TopicDeterminants of Achievement in Top SportView all 26 articles
Direct and Indirect Effects of Coaching Leadership Style on Athlete Engagement
Provisionally accepted
Jingjing Li*
Suxuan Xing- Chengdu Sport University, Chengdu, China
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This study examines how coaching leadership styles influence athlete engagement through the sequential mediating mechanisms of perceived social support and achievement goal orientation. Using validated psychological scales, the research explores the interplay between democratic and authoritarian leadership approaches, athletes' perceptions of social support, and their task-or ego-oriented goal pursuits. The findings reveal that democratic leadership significantly enhances athlete engagement by fostering a supportive environment that strengthens perceived social support, which subsequently promotes task-oriented goals. This dual pathway highlights the critical role of social support and mastery-focused motivation in cultivating athlete engagement. In contrast, authoritarian leadership does not demonstrate meaningful associations with engagement or its mediators. The results underscore the importance of democratic leadership in creating a psychologically empowering climate, offering actionable insights for coach development programs to emphasize autonomy-supportive and collaborative strategies. Theoretically, the study bridges Self-Determination Theory and Achievement Goal Theory by demonstrating how socially embedded support systems and task-oriented goals synergistically contribute to optimizing athlete performance and well-being.
Keywords: Coaching leadership style, athletic engagement, perceived social support, achievementgoal orientation, chain mediating effects
Received: 19 Nov 2024; Accepted: 01 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li and Xing. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jingjing Li, Chengdu Sport University, Chengdu, China
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