It has been argued that the components of servant leadership—including trust, inclusion, humility and service—enhance coach behaviors that have an effect on athletes’ performance (Rieke, Hammermeister, & Chase, 2008); therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate how coaches’ servant leadership influences athletes’ exercise flow and athletic performance.
Method:
The participants of the study were chosen through a convenience sampling method, and a total of 224 student-athletes at a university in Seoul, South Korea, participated in this study. Data were collected through the Servant Leadership Survey (Barbuto & Wheeler, 2006), the Sport Participation Motivation Scale (Kanungo,1982), and the Comparative Performance Scale (Fiedler & Gillo, 1973) that consisted of five-point Likert scale questions.
Analysis/Results:
Collected data were analyzed through descriptive statistic and confirmatory factor analysis, which utilized PASW 18.0 and Amos 18.0. The reliability of the questions and the content validity were checked by means of internal composite reliability and maximum likelihood. The results of the question reliability and the content validity checks showed that the questions of the three questionnaires were suitable for this study (internal composite reliability = .794 ~.894) and that the relationship among the variables reached an appropriate level (CFI=.970, TLI=.957, SRMR=.039, RMSEA=.066). The analysis of the structure equation modeling was conducted to test an established model, and the result indicated that the model was appropriately designed (χ²=63.427, df=32, p<.001). The results of the hypothesis testing using a qualified model were as follows: First, the coaches’ servant leadership significantly influenced the university student athletes’ exercise flow (path coefficient=.364, t=4.735, p<.001). Second, there was a significant relationship between the coaches’ servant leadership and the university athletes’ athletic performance (path coefficient=.226, t=3.235, p<.001). Third, the relationship between the university athletes’ exercise flow and their athletic performance was significant (path coefficient=.562, t=7.019, p<.001). Fourth, the coaches’ servant leadership had not only a direct effect (b=.226) but also an indirect effect (b=.204) on athletic performance. Finally, the total casual effect (b=.430) showed that the athlete’s exercise flow was a mediating variable between the coaches’ servant leadership and the athletes’ athletic performance.
Conclusions:
In conclusion, the findings of the study revealed that the university elite sports coaches’ servant leadership positively influenced both the student-athletes’ exercise flow and their athletic performance. Consequently, this study pointed out the importance of coaches’ leadership in providing athletes opportunities to demonstrate creativity and potential in order to improve their athletic performance.