Coaches’ influence on team dynamics in sport: A scoping review

ABSTRACT

Although extensive sport research has been dedicated to understanding coach effectiveness, this work has largely explored how coaches’ behaviours influence individual athletes rather than considering the total team. Accordingly, we sought to examine the breadth of existing research involving the influence of coaches on team dynamics. Adhering to PRISMA for Scoping Review guidelines, 9,454 peer–reviewed studies were identified using four electronic databases, with 82 ultimately meeting inclusion criteria. Studies were grouped based on interpersonal, intrapersonal, and professional coach behaviours. Within these groups, team dynamics frameworks were used to explore the team–level variables. The results demonstrated that the majority of research has focused on coaches’ interpersonal behaviours on teams’ emergent states, while largely overlooking the influence of coaches’ intrapersonal or professional behaviours on teams’ structures or processes. We advocate for the diversification of methodologies employed and targeted investigations guided by established frameworks to better understand coaches’ influence on team dynamics.

KEYWORDS:

• Coaching
• leadership
• group dynamics
• cohesion
• teams

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

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