The indirect effect of emotional intelligence on student-athletes’ sport motivation through communication satisfaction

The purpose of the current study is to extend the research on the relationship between athletes’ emotional intelligence and sport motivation by focusing on the potential of athletes’ communication satisfaction with their coaches as a mediator in this context. The results of a cross-sectional survey with a sample of 165 South Korean college student-athletes support the hypotheses that student-athletes’ emotional intelligence predicts sport motivation and that communication satisfaction with their coaches mediates this relationship. Implications of the findings and limitations of the study are discussed.