The effects of perceived teamwork on emergent states and satisfaction with performance among team sport athletes

Although teamwork has been shown to be an important group variable across a range of team contexts, corresponding research within the context of sport has not yet been conducted. As such, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between team sport athletes' perceptions of teamwork behaviors with several individual and group variables within sport. A sample of 178 team sport athletes completed the Multidimensional Assessment of Teamwork in Sport, which measures 5 aspects of teamwork. One month later, participants completed measures of team cohesion, collective efficacy, satisfaction with both team and individual performance, enjoyment in one's sport, and commitment to one's team. The correlations between each of the 5 aspects of teamwork with the 6 external variables were significant (p = .001). Large effect sizes were found for the correlations between athletes' perceptions of teamwork and their satisfaction with team performance, task cohesion, and collective efficacy. Medium effect sizes were shown with social cohesion. Small-to-medium effect sizes were evident with satisfaction with individual performance, commitment to one's team, and enjoyment in one's sport. The relationships between each aspect of teamwork and satisfaction with team performance were mediated by task cohesion, social cohesion, and collective efficacy. The relationships between 4 of the 5 aspects of teamwork and satisfaction with individual performance were mediated by enjoyment and commitment. The results of this study suggest that teamwork is an important variable to consider within the context of sport.