The Role of Authentic Leadership on Athlete Outcomes
Authentic leadership is a form of leadership which has received a relatively limited amount of research in sport despite the suggestion that it may be related to numerous positive outcomes in athletes. We conducted a study in sport in order to investigate proposed relationships between authentic leadership and athlete outcomes. Specifically, we investigated whether coaches’ authentic leadership is related to athletes’ achievement and moral outcomes via trust and the culture of the team. Data were collected via questionnaires. The design was a cross-sectional study with 366 (240 females, Mage = 21.07) team sport athletes. Authentic leadership was positively related to athletes’ trust and team culture. Authentic leadership was also positively related to athletes’ commitment, positive affect and perceptions of their teammates’ prosocial behaviours, via trust and team culture. Our findings enhance our understanding of authentic leadership in sport and highlight its importance in predicting crucial positive athlete outcomes.