Investigating Cohesion as a Mediator in the Athlete Leadership Behaviour and Collective Efficacy Relationship in Ice Hockey

摘要

The purpose was to examine whether cohesion mediated the relationship between athlete leader behaviour and collective efficacy. The participants were 207 male ice hockey players. Each participant completed the Group Environment Questionnaire (Carron et al., 1985), assessing cohesion, the Leadership Scale for Sports (Chelladurai u26 Saleh, 1980), assessing athlete leadership behaviour, and the Collective Efficacy Questionnaire (Feltz u26 Lirgg, 1998), assessing collective efficacy in hockey. Cohesion (ATG-T, GI-T, GI-S) was found to mediate the Positive Feedback-collective efficacy relationship for both formal and informal leaders. In addition, cohesion (GI-T) mediated the Democratic Behaviour-collective efficacy relationship among informal athlete leaders. Findings suggest that coaches and sport psychologists should foster the development of specific athlete leader behaviours, which will lead to greater perceptions of team cohesion and in turn, athletes will have a greater sense of collective efficacy within their team.