A Continuation of Sport Teams From an Organizational Perspective : Predictors of Athlete–Coach Leade...
Predictors of Athlete–Coach Leader–Member Exchange

<jats:p>Previous research suggests athletes’ leader–member exchanges (LMX) with coaches are associated with subsequent communication and relationships with coaches and teammates, as athletes with in-group relationships experience more prosocial outcomes than athletes without these relationships. Thus, the formation of in-group relationships is desirable, but extant literature has provided little insight into how coaches can foster these relationships. This study addressed this gap in literature by examining contextual and relational factors (i.e., coach enacted social support) as predictors of athletes’ perceptions of LMX with head coaches. A sample of 216 former high school athletes produced results that indicate both contextual factors and coach-enacted social support can be used to predict athletes’ perceptions of LMX—with starting status, emotional support, and esteem support being uniquely predictive. Overall, the model utilized in this study accounted for 65% of athletes’ perceptions with coach enacted social support accounting for 52% of these perceptions. The practical and theoretical implications are discussed within this article.</jats:p>