The effects of cohesion and psychological climate on male ice hockey players' perceived effort and intention to return

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between two group-based perceptions (i.e., cohesion and psychological climate) and two forms of individual adherence behavior (i.e., intention to return and perceived effort). More specifically, the objectives of this thesis were (a) to examine the relationship between perceptions of cohesion and psychological climate and the adherence measurement of intention to return and (b) to examine the relationship between perceptions of cohesion and psychological climate and the adherence measurement of perceived effort. Male ice hockey players (n = 194) were administered the Group Environment Questionnaire to assess cohesion, a modified version of the Psychological Climate Questionnaire to assess psychological climate, a modified version of the Perceived Effort Questionnaire to assess effort and an Intention to Return Questionnaire during the last two weeks of the ice hockey season. Results from a series of multiple regression analyses revealed that selected perceptions of both cohesion and psychological climate predicted perceived effort. Specifically, it was found that the cohesion subscale Group Integration-Task successfully predicted individual perceived effort, F (4, 188) = 9.44, p < .001 (accounting for 17% of the total variance), with those ice hockey players reporting a greater attraction to the group's task also being the ones who reported the greatest individual effort. In terms of psychological climate, the subscale of role clarity predicted perceived effort, F (4, 187) = 10.66, p < .001 (accounting for 19% of the total variance) with male ice hockey players reporting greater perceptions of role clarity also being the ones indicating greater perceptions of individual effort. Similar to the results for the adherence measurement of perceived effort, both perceptions of cohesion and psychological climate predicted intention to return. The cohesion subscale of Individual Attractions to Group-Social, F (4, 144) = 6.48, p < .001, significantly predicted intention to return for another season accounting for 15% of the total variance. Specifically, those ice hockey players reporting a greater attraction to the group socially were the ones indicating a greater intention to return to participate the following season. In terms of psychological climate, the subscales of role clarity and self-expression predicted intention to return, F (4, 143) = 6.26, p < .001, accounting for 15% of the total variance. This indicates that male ice hockey players reporting greater perceptions of role clarity and self-expression also were the ones who indicated a greater intention to return to participate the following season. As a secondary objective, the relative contributions of cohesion and psychological climate to adherence behavior also were examined. The results indicated that both perceptions of cohesion (i.e., Group Integration-Task) and psychological climate (i.e., role clarity) added unique variance to perceived effort. Similarly, both perceptions of cohesion (i.e., Individual Attractions to Group-Social) and psychological climate (i.e., role clarity) added unique variance to intention to return. These results suggest that both perceptions of cohesion and psychological climate are salient in examining adherence behavior. Practical implications and future directions also are discussed.