Exploring the relationship between super-leadership, self-leadership, and exercise commitment in university Taekwondo teams

Introduction Promoting super-leadership is crucial for the sustainable growth of college sport teams, especially as teams are experiencing a noticeable shift towards a more horizontal dynamic, where athletes themselves are emerging as leaders. However, there is a lack of research on the effectiveness of super-leadership and its possible outcomes in the context of collegiate Taekwondo teams. Methods This study aims to investigate the impact of super-leadership on athletes’ self-leadership and exercise commitment and examine the mediating role of self-leadership in this relationship among collegiate Taekwondo athletes in South Korea. A total of 147 survey data were analyzed by structural equation modeling. Results The findings revealed that super-leadership was found to have a positive impact on both athletes’ self-leadership ( β = 0.71, p 0.001) and exercise commitment ( β = 0.30, p 0.05). Additionally, the study reveals athletes’ self-leadership significantly impacts exercise commitment ( β = 0.34, p 0.05). Our findings also demonstrate that self-leadership was identified as a partial mediator in the relationship between super-leadership and exercise commitment (∆ χ 2 = 4.46, p 0.05). Discussion Theoretical and practical implications were discussed based on the current study’s findings.