Social identification and relational efficacy beliefs in sports teams and training groups

Sparse research has been conducted to investigate the link between social identification and relational efficacy beliefs, variables consistently associated with performance. The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which (1) social identification with one’s team or training group relates to perceptions of self-efficacy, group-focused other-efficacy, and relational inferred self-efficacy (RISE); (2) social identification and self-efficacy are indirectly associated through group-focused other-efficacy and RISE; and (3) assess whether any associations differed for team and individual sport athletes. Athletes from a range of individual (n = 98) and team sports (n = 101) participated in the study. Results from structural equation modelling demonstrated that social identification was significantly related to RISE (β =.51) and other-efficacy (β =.60) for all athletes. Social identification was also significantly related to self-efficacy (β =.40) for individual sport athletes only. Support for the indirect role of RISE in the relationship between social identity and self-efficacy (β =.43) for team sports athletes and individual sports athletes (β =.26) was also observed. Overall results demonstrate the unique relationship that social identification has with athlete self-efficacy and RISE for individual and team sports athletes.