Psychosocial functioning of Olympic coaches and its perceived effect on athlete performance: a systematic review

Abstract

Effective coaching facilitates athletes' success in reaching their potential in sport. Coaches possess a range of knowledge, skills and attributes that influence athletes' performance, including various intrapersonal and interpersonal qualities. The purpose of this study is to systematically review the research investigating the psychosocial functioning of Olympic coaches and its perceived effect on athlete performance. The review was conducted and reported in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. The following databases were searched: SPORTDiscus, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, ScienceDirect, Scopus, Web of Knowledge, and Medline. The literature search identified 2873 studies which were screened and assessed for eligibility, with the resultant 25 eligible studies being assessed for quality of evidence using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Convergent meta-integration with thematic analysis was performed by converting quantitative and qualitative data from 207 Olympic coaches and 925 Olympic athletes into relevant themes and patterns. Three core themes of traits, states, and behaviors were identified. Within these themes, 18 traits, 28 states, and 38 behaviors were identified that were perceived to have either a facilitative, debilitative, or non-categorized effect on athlete performance. Future research will help national governing bodies and practitioners develop coach education to enhance Olympic coaching effectiveness.

Olympic coaching excellence: A quantitative study of psychological aspects of Olympic swimming coaches

“…This conceptualization encompasses the personality traits of conscientiousness (e.g., organization, discipline, and hard work), openness to experience (e.g., imagination, tolerance of ambiguity, and preference for complexity), agreeableness (e.g., trust, cooperation, and care), extraversion (e.g., sociable, gregarious, and dominant), and neuroticism (e.g., tendency toward negative emotion). Cook et al (2021) identified conscientiousness as the most examined trait across the Olympic sport coaching literature, and found a perceived facilitative effect on athlete performance. In a series of studies that used the Big Five model and its associated psychometric questionnaire, Mallet and colleagues found that serial medal winning professional, Olympic and Paralympic coaches scored higher in comparison to general population norms on conscientiousness, openness, agreeableness, and extraversion, and lower on neuroticism (Mallett & Coulter, 2016;Mallet & Lara-Bercial, 2016).…”

“…This has led researchers to argue that there is a need to examine the psychological factors underpinning coaching as well as the technical and tactical aspects (McCarthy & Giges, 2016). In a systematic review of psychosocial aspects of coaching in Olympic sport, Cook, Fletcher, and Carroll (2021) identified coach traits, states, and behaviors that were perceived to have a facilitative, debilitative, or non-categorized effect on athlete performance.…”

“…Researching the factors that discriminate between coaches whose athletes have achieved different performance outcomes is an important step in advancing our understanding of successful Olympic coaching (Cook et al, 2021). O'Boyle and Aguinis (2012) remarked that a relatively small number of people account for most of the winning performances in their field, and argued that researchers should seek to differentiate and understand the psychology of these elite achievers at the tail end of the performance distribution curve: "Our work indicates that superstars exist, but does not address the motivations, behaviors and individual differences of the superstars" (p. 113).…”

“…Narcissism has been shown to influence elite performance (Matosic, Ntoumanis, Boardley, & Sedikies, 2018;Matosic et al, 2017;Roberts, Woodman, & Sedikides, 2018), and research has demonstrated the strategic employment of dark traits by sport leaders and coaches (Fletcher & Arnold, 2011;Arnold, Fletcher, & Hobson, 2018;Cruickshank & Collins, 2015). Despite these empirical findings, no studies have investigated the effect of the dark triad in Olympic coaching (Cook et al, 2021).…”

Leadership Efficacy in Youth Football: Athletes’ and Coaches’ Perspectives

“…The favourability of conditions for leadership should also be considered because the characteristics of leaders, athletes, and context can help coaches maximizing their actions, increasing their leadership efficacy, especially in aspects related to athletes' perceptions of individual performance. This means that leadership cycles and styles should be adapted according to the specificities of coaches, athletes, and context, as suggested by previous research (Cook et al, 2020;Oc, 2018;Sosik & Jung, 2018).…”