When coaching is a calling: A moderated mediating model among school sports coaches

Introduction: Drawing on the Job Demands-Resources Model, the present study examined the relationships among the job control, calling, work engagement, and job performance of sports coaches. Methods: With a cross-sectional study design, we enrolled 278 school sports coaches as participants and adopted questionnaires to collect data. Self-reported data on demographics, job control, calling, work engagement, and job performance were collected from participants. We posted recruitment posters at the sports seminars/workshops for coaches and distributed an informed consent form and a questionnaire to coaches who were willing to participate in our study. Participants received an NT$100 gift voucher after they had filled out the questionnaire. Descriptive analyses (e.g., means, standard deviations, and correlations among focal variables, etc.), reliability and validity analysis, and a series of hierarchical regression analyses to test the hypotheses were adopted in this study. Results: Job control is positively associated with job performance through work engagement. Further, the moderated mediation model demonstrated that job control has a stronger positive correlation with work engagement and job performance, especially when sports coaches possess higher levels of calling. Conclusion: The current findings suggest that job control is a critical antecedent of job performance through work engagement and that a higher level of calling strengthens the relationship. We suggest that crafting an autonomy-supportive working environment will help empower sports coaches to set goals and become involved, which in turn supports sports coaches in achieving their goals and produces better individual/team performance.