When Cohesion Predicts Performance Outcome in Sport

Abstract

This study determined whether the measure of cohesion employed and the ability level, participation motivation, and sex of team members mediated the cohesion-performance outcome relationship in sport. The basketball ability of 117 male and 81 female university student volunteers was assessed and three-person teams of equal ability were formed within each of three ability levels for each sex. Following two practice sessions, self-report measures of participation motivation and cohesion were taken. Teams played two half-hour games weekly for 5 weeks. Multiple regression analyses revealed that when cohesion was directly assessed through players' ratings of their team's closeness and the team's overall attraction, 18% of the variance in performance outcome was accounted for by cohesion. When cohesion was assessed by summing individuals' evaluations of their teammates' contributions to the task and the group's enjoyment, only .7% of performance outcome was predicted. Knowing a member's self-motivation improved cohesion's prediction of performance outcome 7%. The task motivation, affiliation motivation, ability level, or sex of the players did not improve cohesion's prediction of performance outcome. Thus, the cohesion measure used influenced cohesion's prediction of performance outcome more than did the ability level, participation motivation, and sex of the team members.

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