Football coach leadership styles and players commitment.

The present study aimed to examine the relationship between coaches' leadership styles and player’s commitment in Ethiopian premier league soccer clubs. 207 players who participated in Ethiopian premier league soccer competition completed the demographic questionnaire, leadership scale for sport (LSS) and sport commitment scale (SCMS). The LSS contained 40 items that measured five dimensions of leadership behaviors and the SCMS with 14 items assessed four dimensions of player’s commitment. Results showed a significant positive relationship between coaches' behaviors of training and instruction, democratic behavior, and social support with sport enjoyment and social constraint to continue participation in sport activity. There was no significant relationship between positive feedback and autocratic behaviors with sport commitmen and Involvement opportunities afforded by continued participation. Comparison of coaches' leadership styles demonstrated that coaches exhibited higher training and instruction and lower autocratic behavior. In addition, findings showed significant relationship between sport commitment and team success and the coaches of successful teams exhibited higher training and instruction behaviors. In summary, the effect of coaching behaviors on player’s commitment and team success apparently demonstrated the importance of using the appropriate leadership styles.