The relationship between observed and perceived assessments of the coach-created motivational environment and links to athlete motivation

A study of coach‐team perceptual distance concerning the coach‐created motivational climate in youth sport

“…Coach perceptions of the motivational climate were also measured with the PMCSQ‐2, and the coaches were asked to indicate how well the items corresponded to their actual behavior in the past month, and the items were preceded by the stem “On my team.” Previous use of this scale to assess coach perceptions has noted somewhat low reliability scores, but the Omega coefficient for the coaches' rating herein was 0.81 for the mastery climate scale, and 0.75 for the performance climate scale.…”

“…The motivational climate in sport and its correlates have received a great deal of empirical attention . However, despite the fact that studies report discrepancies between coach and athlete ratings of the motivational climate, this perceptual distance has rarely been treated as a phenomenon of interest. The aim of this study was to do so, and the results revealed that perceptual distance matters.…”

“…It is a reflection of the achievement priority of the coach, evident through his or her behavior, structure, and decision‐making, and athletes’ perceptions of the motivational climate are thought to impact their achievement behavior, cognition, and affective responses . However, an interesting observation in previous research is that athletes may differ significantly from their coaches in their perceptions of the coach‐created motivational climate, particularly when it comes to positive dimensions of the climate . Unfortunately, such perceptual distance has seldom been investigated as a phenomenon of interest in and of itself.…”

“…Yet we argue that it is also important to consider coach perceptions of the motivational climate, particularly because previous research has found that coaches and their athletes may differ in their perceptions. For example, Smith et al found that there were no significant associations between coaches’ and athletes’ ratings of either a mastery or performance climate. This can be referred to as perceptual distance, that is, the difference between leader and team perceptions of the same social stimulus .…”

“…3 However, an interesting observation in previous research is that athletes may differ significantly from their coaches in their perceptions of the coach-created motivational climate, particularly when it comes to positive dimensions of the climate. 4,5 Unfortunately, such perceptual distance has seldom been investigated as a phenomenon of interest in and of itself. Accordingly, the current study was designed to examine whether coach-team perceptual distance regarding the coach-created motivational climate relates to team-rated outcomes.…”