The Relations between Newcomer Integration Processes and Youth Athletes’ Perceptions of the Group Environment in Competitive Ice Hockey
Abstract
Abstract
The ways in which new members are integrated into a particular group environment—also known as organizational socialization processes—have been shown to be a powerful predictor of newcomer adjustment in the workplace. Yet, there is a scarcity of research on how sport teams manage the integration of new team members, and the consequences of different tactics. The current research uses the recently developed Sport Team Socialization Tactics Questionnaire (STSTQ) to evaluate how socialization processes are systematically related to youth athletes’ perceptions of their group environment. Across two time points, 202 competitive adolescent ice hockey players (Mage = 14.47, SD = 1.23, 26.24% female) completed the STSTQ processes near the beginning of the season, and then measures of group conflict, social identity, and cohesion later in the season. As hypothesized, coach-initiated role communication tactics positively predicted task cohesion (p p
Keywords: newcomer integration; socialization; cohesion; social identity; relationship conflict; group dynamics; sport psychology