Suchergebnisse

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationships among collective efficacy, group goals, and group performance using an interdependent muscular endurance task in a controlled laboratory setting. Thirty-seven male (n = 14) and female (n = 23) triads performed two trials of maximum muscular endurance, completing measures of collective efficacy and group goals between trials. Results showed a high degree of correlation ( r range = .73 -.92) between collective efficacy, group goals, and group performance. Hierarchical linear regression analyses revealed that collective efficacy predicted significant variance in Trial 2 performance after controlling for performance on Trial 1. Group goals mediated the relationship between collective efficacy and group performance on Trial 2. Implications for theory and group performance in naturalistic settings such as sport teams are discussed.

The main purpose of the study was to examine role clarity as a moderator of the role efficacy-role performance relationship. A secondary issue was to investigate the influence of role clarity on role efficacy and role performance. On the basis of Bandura's theorizing, it was hypothesized that role efficacy should be a good predictor of role performance effectiveness only under conditions of high role clarity. Individuals reporting higher role clarity were expected to be more efficacious and perform better than those with lower role clarity. Consistent with hypotheses, role clarity moderated the prospective relationship between role efficacy and role performance effectiveness in the predicted direction for offensive role functions. Individuals who reported higher role clarity also reported higher role efficacy and performed better than those with lower role clarity. Results are discussed in the context of self-efficacy theory. Further prospective examinations, as well as experimental designs, are recommended.

The purpose of this study was to examine perceptions of role ambiguity and role conflict within interdependent sport teams from a multidimensional perspective. Role ambiguity and role conflict corresponding to offensive and defensive functions were assessed in relation to role-related efficacy beliefs as well as starting status. Results of a principal components analysis supported the multidimensionality of role ambiguity but indicated that role conflict was unidimensional with regard to offensive and defensive role functions. Consistent with self-efficacy theory (discussed by Bandura in 1997), role ambiguity was negatively associated with role-related efficacy beliefs. Furthermore, consistent with theorizing by Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek, and Rosenthal in 1964, a negative relationship between role conflict and role-related efficacy was mediated by role ambiguity. Nonstarters reported greater role ambiguity than starters; however, no differences were observed with regard to role conflict. The findings have implications for the future study of role ambiguity as a multidimensional construct and the relationship between role ambiguity and performance.

The present study reports on the initial development of an instrument to measure role efficacy for interdependent functions and test its conceptual distinctiveness from other forms of efficacy within interdependent teams. Intercollegiate basketball players completed a role efficacy questionnaire on which they reported their confidence in capabilities to perform interdependent role functions within their team's offensive and defensive systems. They also completed measures of task self-efficacy and collective efficacy. Consistent with predictions, role efficacy and task self-efficacy were moderately related. Role efficacy was also distinct from collective efficacy insofar as the latter perception showed evidence of a shared group perception, whereas role efficacy showed individual-level variance only. Starting players reported greater role efficacy than nonstarters, yet collective efficacy and task self-efficacy were the same regardless of starting status. Together, results supported the initial validity and conceptual distinctiveness of role efficacy within the interdependent sport team environment.

The relationships between leadership behaviors and athletes' perceptions of role ambiguity were investigated within interdependent team sports. Early to midway through their respective seasons, the degree to which coaches engaged in training and instruction and positive feedback behaviors was investigated in relation to athletes' subsequent perceptions of multi-dimensional role ambiguity. For nonstarters, coaches' training and instruction accounted for significant variation in offensive and defensive role consequences ambiguity as well as offensive role evaluation ambiguity. However, for starters, neither of the leadership dimensions assessed in this study could explain significant variance in any of the role ambiguity dimensions. Results are discussed in terms of theory development and further research investigating possible antecedents of multidimensional role ambiguity.

The purpose of the study was to examine how the exclusion of teams failing to meet varying statistical criteria for consensus on cohesiveness influences the magnitude of the cohesion– team success relationship. The index of agreement was calculated for 78 teams (N = 1,000 athletes) that had completed the Group Environment Questionnaire. Results showed that excluding teams because they fail to satisfy various criteria for consensus leads to changes in the magnitude of the cohesion–team success relationship. The magnitude of the relationship between team success and the individual attractions to group-task manifestation of cohesion showed progressive decreases as criteria required to demonstrate consensus became more stringent. Conversely, the magnitude of the relationship between team success and the group integration–task and group integration–social manifestations of cohesion showed progressive increases as criteria required to demonstrate consensus became more stringent. The results are discussed in terms of their relationship to group dynamics theory and practice.