No abstract

The successful development of Transformational Leadership (TFL) theory has influenced research in organizational psychology since the 1980s. Research shows that TFL has been effective not only in the domain of business but also in the military, education, parenting, and public sectors. Sport psychology researchers became interested in TFL in the early 2000s. The TFL behaviors in sport include individualized consideration, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, fostering teamwork, high performance expectation, and appropriate role modeling. The focus of the current review paper is to examine and organize research on TFL in the sport coaching literature. More specifically, the effects of coaches' TFL behavior on the psychological and behavioral aspects of athletes are reviewed. The previous literature was organized into 7 themes: performance, training attitude, motivation, self-efficacy, cohesion, satisfaction, and psychological development. It is recommended that future research should examine the effect of TFL on desired psychological and behavioral outcomes of athletes and include it in sport coaching education.