Authentic leadership and task cohesion: The mediating role of trust and team sacrifice

A large body of literature has examined the consequences of various leadership styles. However, the concept of authentic leadership has received little attention. In this study, we investigated whether authentic leadership predicted task cohesion and whether trust and team sacrifice mediated this relationship. A total of 338 (Mage =19.96, SD = 2.14) team sport athletes completed questionnaires assessing the aforementioned variables. Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling (MSEM) indicated that authentic leadership positively predicted task cohesion and this relationship was mediated by both trust and team sacrifice. Our findings draw attention to the importance of authentic leadership and high-light the role of trust and team sacrifice on the identified relationships.