International Teacher Education Conference 2014 1

International Teacher Education Conference 2014
Transformational Leadership of Coaches and Sport Commitment of Iranian
Football Players: Implications on Training and Selection of Teachers as
Coaches
Aminuddin Yusof a Hamidreza Saybani b Parilah Mohd Shah c *
a b
Faculty of Educational Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Malaysia
c Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi Selangor Malaysia
Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between transformational leadership style of Iranian
high schools’ coaches and sport commitment of Iranian high schools’ football players. This study also examined
the effect of age and playing experience on athletes’ sport commitment. A total of 270 football players were
selected from 31 high schools football teams in Iran using the simple random sampling procedure. Instruments
of the study were Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) (Avolio & Bass, 1995) and Sport Commitment
Model Scale (SCMS) (Scanlan, Carpenter, Schmidt, Simons, & Keeler, 1993). The results of the study indicated
that there is a positive and significant relationship between transformational leadership style of coaches and
sport commitment (r = .419, β =.478, ρ value=.001). In addition, the results also showed that there are no
significant differences in sport commitment of football players of different their ages ( F (2, 252) = 1.115, p
value = 0.330 > 0.05) and years of football experience (F (2, 252) = 0.053, p value = 0.948 > 0.05). Findings of
this study suggest that transformational coaches that the transformational leadership style is effective in
enhancing the sport commitment of Iranian high school football players.
Keywords: Transformational leadership style, Sport commitment
INTRODUCTION
Transformational leadership theory is relatively new in sport settings and it has proved to be useful (Bass &
Riggio, 2006). With transformational leadership, the followers feel trust, administration, loyalty, and respect
toward the leader, and they are motivated to do more than they originally expected to do. According to Bass
(1985), the leader transforms and motivates followers by (1) making them more aware of the importance of task
outcomes, (2) inducing them to transcend their own self-interest for the sake of the organization or team, and (3)
activating their higher-order needs. In contrast, transactional leadership involves an exchange process that may
result in follower compliance with leader requests but is not likely to generate enthusiasm and commitment to
task objectives (Yukl, 2010).
By altering and influencing followers' beliefs and attitudes, transformational leaders motivate and inspire
followers to exceed expectations. According to Bass & Riggio (2006) and Avolio (1999) transformational
leadership factors are: (1) Idealized influence (attributed), (2) Idealized influence (behavior), (3) Inspirational
motivation, (4) Intellectual stimulation and (5) Individualized consideration. Several studies examined the
relationship between transformational leadership behaviors, commitment and satisfaction of subordinates
(Amorose & Horn, 2000; Chen & Fahr, 2003; Louise & Robert, 2007; Andrew, 2008; Hallajy, 2009). Their
findings revealed that transformational behaviors have influence on subordinates’ outcomes such as commitment
and satisfaction. In a sport setting, researchers showed transformational leadership style of coaches can predict
and increase commitment of their followers (Golshani, 2001; Nikoofar, 2006; Andrew, Kim, Stoll, Cup & Todd,
2008; Hallajy, 2009).
Leadership styles and behaviors of coaches can motivate players to achieve goals, perform better, and
become successful. Coaches can also influence their athletes to the highest performance based on their
maximum capabilities (Ting Chen, 2007; Zardoshtian, 2008). In addition, the authors stated that coaches need to
understand several skills for teaching athletes. Therefore it is critical for sport coaches to be knowledgeable
about various things (such as planning, instructing, training, psychology needs of players), and be able to carry
E-mail address: amin@upm.edu.my
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