Leadership perception and satisfaction in swimmers: The mediation effects of emotional intelligence

Abstract

In the multidimensional model of leadership (e.g., Chelladurai, 2007), this research aimed to analyze the effects of mediation of the dimensions of emotional intelligence (e.g., evaluation of one's own emotions, evaluation of other's emotions, regulation of emotion, and use of emotion) in the relationship between the perceived leadership of the instructor (e.g., coaching, reinforcement, social support, autocratic behavior, and democratic behavior) and satisfaction with leadership. The participants were 40 swimmers of different competitive levels, aged between seven and 75 years (M = 26.83, SD = 18.81). Multiple mediation analyzes with a bootstrap resampling procedure (5000 samples) revealed that emotional regulation mediates the relation between instructor-training perception of instructor and satisfaction with leadership. The results reveal that the integration of emotional intelligence (e.g., emotion regulation) into the theoretical aspects of leadership can broaden the understanding of practitioner satisfaction in sports practice.