The Influence of Coach Leadership on Female Athletes' Personal Motivation and Sports Engagement: A Study of Female Atheletes' Perceptions

Coach leadership in the context of sports has been widely studied for the past three decades. The leadership styles coaches adopt significantly influence various aspects of athlete development, including personal motivation and their level of engagement in sports activities. This research specifically explores the influence of two different leadership styles, namely transactional and transformational leadership, on the personal motivation and engagement of female athletes in sports, focusing on those who have competed in the Professional League and the Bandung League. Using a quantitative approach with a descriptive design and ANOVA analysis, this study collected data from 34 female futsal athletes. The collected data included information on athletes' perceived preferences of their coach's leadership style and their level of motivation and engagement in sports. Data collection was carried out through questionnaires (DLTI, MSLS, and SMS II) designed to measure perceptions of transactional and transformational leadership, as well as motivation and engagement variables. Statistical analysis using IBM SPSS Statistics 23 showed that transactional leadership has a stronger influence on personal motivation and engagement in sports compared to transformational leadership. This is evidenced by a correlation coefficient of 87% for transactional leadership, which is higher than the correlation coefficient of 82% for transformational leadership. Both leadership styles showed very low significance values (Sig < 0.05), indicating that their influence on the studied variables is highly significant. These findings indicate that elements of transactional leadership, such as incentives, rewards, and strict performance monitoring of athletes, are more effective in enhancing the motivation and engagement of female athletes compared to elements of transformational leadership that prioritize inspiration, vision, and personal development. Specifically, athletes respond better to tangible rewards and direct recognition of their achievements, which are characteristic of transactional leadership.