Coach leadership style and Korean professional soccer team performance: Collective efficacy as a mediator

We examined the connection between the transformational and authentic leadership of head coaches and team performance, and the mediating role of collective efficacy in this relationship in the context of Korean men’s K League. Participants were 106 K League players and we analyzed their data using structural equation modeling. The results show that transformational and authentic leadership of head coaches both had a positive effect on players’ collective efficacy, which had a positive effect on team performance. Transformational leadership had a direct effect on team performance, but authentic leadership did not. Further, transformational and authentic leadership both had a positive effect on team performance. Collective efficacy partially mediated the former relationship and fully mediated the latter relationship. Our findings have practical implications for K League coaches seeking to develop their leadership through education and training programs, in that they should provide special care to underperforming players and pair players of different ages and educational backgrounds to increase team performance and collective efficacy.