# The impact of swimming coaches’ authentic leadership coaching on trust, self-efficacy, service quality, and relationship continuity intention

## TL;DR

This study shows how authentic leadership by swimming coaches in South Korea boosts trust, self-efficacy, and service quality, which helps keep adult swimmers engaged.

## Contribution

The study reveals that authentic leadership indirectly affects relationship continuity intention through self-efficacy and service quality in community sports.

## Key findings

- Authentic leadership significantly increases coach trust, self-efficacy, and service quality.
- Self-efficacy and service quality mediate the relationship between trust and relationship continuity intention.
- The model fit was strong, showing reliable relationships among the variables.

## Abstract

This study investigates how swimming coaches’ authentic leadership influences trust, self-efficacy, service quality, and relationship continuity intention among adult recreational swimmers in South Korea. Using structural equation modeling (SEM), it aims to provide insights for enhancing leadership practices in community sports.

A total of 280 adult recreational swimmers participated in the survey, using validated scales on a 5-point Likert scale. Structural equation modeling and bootstrapping with 5,000 resamples were employed to analyze the relationships among authentic leadership, trust, self-efficacy, service quality, and relationship continuity intention.

The SEM analysis demonstrated excellent model fit (χ2/df = 2.41, CFI = 0.95, TLI = 0.94, RMSEA = 0.059). Authentic leadership significantly influenced coach trust, which in turn positively affected self-efficacy and service quality. While Hypothesis 4 (coach trust → relationship continuity intention) was not supported, mediation analysis showed that self-efficacy and service quality significantly mediated the relationship, indicating that trust indirectly sustains participants’ continuity intention.

Authentic leadership plays a vital role in fostering trust, self-efficacy, and service quality in community sports programs. These factors indirectly support participants’ sustained engagement, highlighting the importance of leadership development in enhancing the effectiveness of community-based swimming programs.