Youth athlete leaders\u27 use of transformational behaviours and relations to trust in the leader and sport outcomes

Leadership is one of the most crucial factors determining whether a group succeeds or fails (Bass, 1990). Furthermore, leaders displaying transformational behaviours are thought to lift followers to higher levels of motivation to get them to perform beyond expectations (Bass, 1985), and they tend to have followers who are more committed and satisfied (Bass & Riggio, 2006). Another outcome of transformational leadership in organizations is that followers are more willing to trust leaders who show care and concern for the follower (Dirks & Ferrin, 2002). The purpose of the present study was to determine if the use of full range leadership behaviours by formal peer leaders on youth sport teams would relate to trust in the leader. Data were collected at two time points, once near the beginning of the season and again near the end of the season, using several questionnaires including the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire – Form 5 (Bass & Avolio, 2004). Only data from participants who were present at both data collection points were included in the analyses of study hypotheses, which included 126 athletes (77 females, 49 males; mean age = 15.49) from 12 interdependent sport teams. It was found that perceptions of full range leadership were related to cognitive- and affect-based trust at both time points. Interestingly, the transformational components inspirational motivation and idealized influence (attributed) contributed positively, and the non-leadership component laissez-faire negatively, to the relationship with affect-based trust at both time points. The results of the current study also found that both transformational leadership behaviours and higher levels of trust related to athletes perceiving their leader as being effective and satisfying, as well as being willing to put in extra effort. The results lead to the suggestion that youth peer leaders’ use of transformational behaviours will promote higher levels of trust from their teammates, over and above the use of transactional and non-leadership behaviours