Believing in “us”: Exploring leaders’ capacity to enhance team confidence and performance by building a sense of shared social identity.

Abstract

The present study examined the impact of athlete leaders' perceived confidence on their teammates' confidence and performance. Male basketball players (N = 102) participated in groups of 4. To manipulate leaders' team confidence, the appointed athlete leader of each newly formed basketball team (a confederate) expressed either high or low team confidence. The results revealed an effect of team confidence contagion such that team members had greater team confidence when the leader expressed high (rather than low) confidence in the team's success. Second, the present study sought to explain the mechanisms through which this contagion occurs. In line with the social identity approach to leadership, structural equation modeling demonstrated that this effect was partially mediated by team members' increased team identification. Third, findings indicated that when leaders expressed high team confidence, team members' performance increased during the test, but when leaders expressed low confidence, team members' performance decreased. Athlete leaders thus have the capacity to shape team members' confidence--and hence their performance--in both positive and negative ways. In particular, by showing that they believe in "our team," leaders are able not only to make "us" a psychological reality, but also to transform "us" into an effective operational unit.

The Impact of Athlete Leaders on Team Members’ Team Outcome Confidence: A Test of Mediation by Team Identification and Collective Efficacy

“…These results support previous research demonstrating a positive impact of athlete leaders on their teammates' team confidence (Bandura, 1997;Fransen, Haslam, et al, 2014;Fransen et al, 2012;Hoyt et al, 2003;Ronglan, 2007). Furthermore, our results again support the previous finding that the task leader is perceived as the most important leader by players and coaches .…”

Perceived Sources of Team Confidence in Soccer and Basketball

“…Third, at the item level (i.e., when looking at the individual sources instead of at the overarching factors), the expression of team confidence by leader figures within the team (i.e., athlete leaders) emerged as the most important source of athletes' and coaches' team outcome confidence. These findings corroborate previous research indicating the important role of athlete leaders in affecting teammates' team confidence (1,10,12,28,38).…”

A Social Identity Approach to Sport Psychology: Principles, Practice, and Prospects

“…Thus, to the extent that leaders act in the interests of the group (with all other variables held constant), they are indeed perceived to be more charismatic [151,152], as well as more trustworthy [153] and effective [154]. Thus, rather than simply trying to identify the "special stuff" that makes leaders and coaches great, a social identity approach to leadership focuses on the processes through which leaders and followers come to see each other as part of a common ingroup [90,152].…”

“…Relatedly, experimental research has shown that, because it enhances team members' social identification, the confidence leaders express in a team is a powerful determinant of basketball players' success in competition [90](see also [157]). …”

“…Instead, it appears that people's willingness to sacrifice personal interests for those of the group is driven primarily by identification with the group (and its perceived needs and goals) and that it is this shared social identity that helps turn a team of champions into a champion team [90][91][92].…”