Unravelling trickle-down effects in sports clubs: a multi-informant and multi-level exploration of the interplay between leadership styles, coaching styles, and members’ motivation

In this study, we adopted a multi-informant and multi-level approach to investigate whether sports club leaders can influence members via the coaches (i.e., trickle-down effect). Grounded in Self-Determination Theory, we focused on two parts of this effect: (1) the relation between (de)motivating leadership styles and the (de)motivating coaching styles, and (2) the relation between the (de)motivating coaching styles and sports club members' motivation. Our study involved 564 sports club members who participated in team sports such as football, basketball, and volleyball. These athletes were organised into sports teams coached by 106 coaches across 33 Flemish sports clubs. Regarding the first part of the trickle-down effect, our findings revealed that the relation between the (de)motivating leadership and coaching styles varied depending on the perspective. Specifically, coaches' own perceptions of their controlling and chaotic style related to controlling leadership, yet members' perceptions of the coaching styles were significantly different and not associated with leadership. Regarding the second part of the trickle-down effect, members' individual perceptions of coaching styles related significantly to their motivation, with relations varying by coaching approach (i.e., autonomy support, structure, control, chaos) and motivational regulation type (i.e., intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, introjection regulation, external regulation, amotivation). Lastly, when examining both parts simultaneously, our findings failed to support a linear trickle-down effect from (de)motivating leadership to members' motivation through (de)motivating coaching styles. This challenges our hypothesis and common assumptions found in the literature, emphasising the need for further exploration of individual and contextual factors that influence trickle-down effects in sports.