Department of Movement Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Department of Developmental, Personality and Social Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2018 Dec;28(12):2734-2750. doi: 10.1111/sms.13273. Epub 2018 Sep 11.
Grounded in the Cognitive Evaluation Theory, the present experiment aimed to compare the relative impact of competence support provided by coaches versus athlete leaders on players' competence satisfaction, intrinsic motivation, and performance.
We recruited 18 existing competitive male basketball teams (ie, 126 players) to participate in the experiment. Each team was randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (a) the coach provided competence support (ie, by encouraging, providing positive feedback, and expressing team confidence); (b) the athlete leader provided competence support; or (c) neither the coach, nor the athlete leader provided competence support (ie, control condition).
Teams in which the athlete leader provided competence support reported higher levels of competence satisfaction and intrinsic motivation than teams in the control condition, a difference that did not emerge when the coach provided competence support. Furthermore, teams in which either the coach or the athlete leader supported team members' competence performed better compared to teams in the control group.
Our findings highlight the importance of providing competence support to enhance team performance. Given athlete leaders' unique impact on teammates' competence satisfaction and motivation, instructing athlete leaders how to provide competence support constitutes an important motivational pathway for coaches to optimize team functioning.
本实验以认知评价理论为基础，旨在比较教练提供的能力支持与运动员领袖提供的能力支持对运动员的能力满意度、内在动机和表现的相对影响。
我们招募了 18 支现有的男子竞技篮球队（即 126 名运动员）参与实验。每个队被随机分配到以下三个条件之一：（a）教练提供能力支持（即通过鼓励、提供积极反馈和表达对团队的信心）；（b）运动员领袖提供能力支持；或（c）教练和运动员领袖都不提供能力支持（即控制条件）。
与控制条件相比，提供能力支持的运动员领袖的团队报告了更高的能力满意度和内在动机水平，而当教练提供能力支持时，这种差异并不明显。此外，无论是教练还是运动员领袖为团队成员提供能力支持的团队的表现都优于控制组。
我们的研究结果强调了提供能力支持以提高团队表现的重要性。鉴于运动员领袖对队友的能力满意度和动机有着独特的影响，指导运动员领袖如何提供能力支持是教练优化团队功能的一个重要的激励途径。
