Interplay of mindful leadership, team cohesion, and performance: a moderated mediation analysis in sports teams

The current study anchors on the self-determination theory (SDT) to predict the influence of mindful leadership on sports team performance through the mediator effect of team cohesion and the moderating role of teamwork quality. The study samples athletes and coaches from various sports teams in China and assesses the hypothesized model using Mplus software, appropriate to gauge multilevel modeling (N = 342). Besides, the authors gather data across a two-time wave in order to predict the causal relationships amongst variables. Our findings indicate that mindful leadership significantly predicts team performance via the mediating path of team cohesion. In addition, teamwork quality significantly and positively moderates the linkage between mindful leadership and team creativity (and then team performance via team cohesion). The study explores a moderated mediation model capturing the unique dynamics of leadership and team phenomenon in sports teams. Our findings contribute substantial insights for both theory and practice by assessing the critical roles of leadership and team dynamics to influence team outcomes.