ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1695236
This article is part of the Research TopicTowards a Psychophysiological Approach in Physical Activity, Exercise, and Sports-Volume VView all 18 articles
The Mediating Role of Social Goals in the Relationships Between Teachers' Transformational Leadership, Prosocial Climate, and Motor Self-Efficacy in Physical Education Students
Provisionally accepted
- 1Departamento Psicología Social, Trabajo Social, Antropología Social y Estudios de Asia Oriental, Universidad de Málaga, Malaga, Spain
- 2Polytechnic University of Leiria, Leiria, Portugal; Research Center in Sport, Health, and Human Development (CIDESD), Covilhã (pole on the Polytechnic University of Leiria), Portugal, Leiria, Portugal
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Background: There is a limited body of research explaining the associations between transformational leadership and prosocial climate, particularly when considering social goals as mediating variables. Furthermore, no studies have explored the mediating effect of social goals and prosocial climate in the relationships between transformational leadership and motor self-efficacy. Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between transformational leadership, social goals, prosocial climate, and the perception of motor self-efficacy. Specifically, this research intends to determine the mediating role of social goals in the relationships between teacher transformational leadership, prosocial climate, and motor self-efficacy in Physical Education students. Method: The study involved 392 adolescents (52.81% male, n = 207; 47.19% female, n = 185) aged between 14 and 16 years (M = 15.07; SD = 0.78), who were secondary school students in various educational institutions in the city of Málaga (Spain)-----blinded-----. Data were collected using the Transformational Teaching Questionnaire, the Social Goals in Physical Education Scale, the School Prosocial Climate Questionnaire, and the Motor Self-Efficacy Scale. Results: The results revealed multiple relationships among the studied variables. Specifically, a mediation effect of social goals was observed between transformational leadership and prosocial climate, as well as a mediation effect of social goals and prosocial climate in the relationship between transformational leadership and motor self-efficacy. Conclusions: These findings suggest an association between transformational leadership, prosocial climate, and motor self-efficacy, highlighting the importance of social goals as key variables in understanding these relationships.
Keywords: Physical Education, transformational leadershiphleadership, prosocial, Social goals, Motor self-efficacy
Received: 29 Aug 2025; Accepted: 05 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Reigal, Morales-Sánchez, Matos and Hernández-Mendo. 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: Rafael E. Reigal, Departamento Psicología Social, Trabajo Social, Antropología Social y Estudios de Asia Oriental, Universidad de Málaga, Malaga, Spain
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