The Influence Of Coaches’ Leadership And Motivational Climate On Athletes’ Motivation Internalization

In team sports, the improvement of coaches’ leadership and team effectiveness has been always the focus in the theoretical and practical circle. There are three core issues involved under consideration. First, through creation of what motivational climate can coaches effectively foster positive incentives so as to promote the integration of coaches’ intention with athlete’s intrinsic motivation and the compatibility of team member’s individual need with team’s incentive goals? Second, through what transmission mechanism can coaching behavior affects the formation of athlete’s motivation and self-accomplishment? Third, how the internalization of athletes’ motivation and self-achievement are affected by endogenous and exogenous factors?Taking 2014 National Youth Volleyball League(professional group) as research sample, 2014 China(Northern Division) College Students Volleyball League(nonprofessional) athletes as contrast sample, this dissertation empirically studies the interactive relations among coaches’ leadership, motivational climate and athletes’ motivation internalization. With the integration of achievement goals theory, self-determination theory and incentive hierarchical model, this research has constructed coaches’ motivation model and brought forth the framework of athlete motivation internalization to explore the influence path from coaches’ leadership to athletes’ participative motivation. The research findings will provide a theoretical basis and practical guidance for enhancement of coaches’ leadership and positive internalization of athletes’ motivation.This dissertation adopts the paradigm of theory integrative analysis and research hypothesis hierarchically tests. The research findings are as follows:(1)Theoretical integrativ analysis has found that coaches’ leadership behavior has a positive effect on the creation of athletes’ motivation climate and athletes’ perception, interpretation and translation not only affects the effectiveness of coaches’ leadership behavior, also affects the athlete’s motivation internalization and self-determination. In the process of athlete’s motivation internalization, motivation plays a role of mediator. The perceived quality of coaches’ s motivation climate desides the direction and process of athletes’ internalization of motivation.(2)Coaches’ leadership behavior, motivation climate and the basic psychological needs. The research has found that coach leadership behavior, through the intermediary role of motivation climate, affect the athlete’s basic psychological needs, and furthermore influence the athlete’s motivation internalization. The study has also found that, relative to rights-based autocratic leadership as well as indulgent style leadership, in volleyball team sports, democratic leadership can pull athletes’ psychological distance and help cultivate common norms, beneficially improving overall efficiency of team’s utility. The variable of Efforts and progress is the kay to satisfy basic psychological needs and drive the internalization of athletes’ motivation; while cooperative learning and identity have no significant effect on the satisfaction of basic psychological needs. The peiceive gap directly affects the acceptance for coaches’ leadership.(3)The research has empirical test on the relation between motivation climate and athlete’s motivation internalization: the mediating role of basic psychological needs. The study has found that different motivational climate displays the different degree and direction in satisfying basic psychological needs and athletes’ basic psychological needs has a positive effect on athlete’s motivation internalization. Studies have shown that in the self-determined motivational climate, the variables of competence and sense of belonging play a mediating role for role identity and cooperative learning, and efforts and progress only play an intermediary role for the sense of belongings. The research has also found that,for the Chineses teams belongnings plays as the top in the basic psychological needs.(4)The third part focuses on the interactive relationship between athletes’ goal orientation and perceived motivational climate as well as the moderating role of sense of belonging on goal orientation. The study found that there is a correlation between athletes’ self-orientation and task-orientation rather than non-orthogonal relation. Athletes’ self-goal orientation can be coexisted with goal orientation, instead of strengthening, suppressing or weakening another goal orientation. The different perception of goal orientation leads to different incentive results; athletes with task oriented goal perception are more sensitive in the interpretation of motivational climate. When athlete is in the state of high task goal orientation, its self-goal oriented level affects the understanding and perception of performance motivation climate. The athlete’s goal orientation has moderating effect on sense of belong variable.(5)The last part, through comparative analysis of non-professional and professional volleyball team, is intended to explore the vertical and horizontal spillover effects of different leadership behaviors. The comparative study found that compared to non-professional team(college students), the role of coach leadership is much prominent for professional group(Youth), while the coach support behavior is weak, and the effect of group cohesion is more noticeable. The coach motivational climate plays an important role in shaping positive athletes self-determination. Professional groups pay more attention to coach’s leadership behavior and the creation of group cohesion. Under the motivational climate, both non-professional and professional group incline to self-oriented, which means athletes motivation are more willing to accept the positive motivation and self-identity. In the aspect of leadership behavior, non-professional are more acceptable coach’s support whereas professional group are more likely to have high cohesion climate. For the leadership style, non- professional athletes have certain resistance to strong coach, but are ready to accept all kinds of motivational regulation. Good motivational climate can help task oriented players have stronger motivation internalization, which is better than that of self-oriented.This study has built a bridge from micro to macro to study individual and team motivation and self-achievements. It uncovers the conversion mechanism from coach leadership, perception of motivation climate to athlete’s motivation internalization. The findings have important theoretical and practical value for the enhancement of coaches’ leadership and promotion of team building.