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Team identification and collective efficacy are important determinants of team functioning. A team’s collective efficacy is borne from its shared social identity and improved through iterative, interpersonal exchanges between teammates during training sessions and matches. Our study employed social network analyses to examine the impact of intra-team relationships on team identification and collective efficacy. We adopted a cross-sectional design including four elite teams (N = 67, 79% female) and collected athletes’ data on which teammates they communicated with during matches (match communication relationships) and which teammates they sought informational support from during training sessions (informational support relationships). Regression analyses were conducted to explore the impact of these relationships on team identification and collective efficacy. Communication ties positively predicted team identification, while incoming (i.e., receiving nominations for support from teammates) and outgoing support ties (i.e., perceiving teammates as available for support) were unrelated. In addition, outgoing support ties predicted collective efficacy, while incoming support ties and communication ties were unrelated. Findings are discussed through a social identity lens, with suggestions to curate the training environment with activities that increase the reciprocity of communication relations between certain pairs of teammates to strengthen identification as well as increase the quantity and distribution of outgoing, support seeking relations to enhance collective efficacy. Network maps of the teams sampled are used to exemplify these suggestions. Future research using social network analyses to track changes in networks over time is encouraged to understand the role of intrateam relationships in team functioning. ispartof: International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology vol:21 issue:4 pages:638-659 status: published

Community-based walking groups constitute a promising avenue to increase both the levels of physical activity and the social connectedness of older adults. In addition, while peer-led walking groups seem to be as effective as professional-led programs, they are more cost-effective and socially integrative. In collaboration with a Flemish socio-cultural organization for older adults (i.e., OKRA), we designed the health-promoting program “Lekker Actief” (i.e., “Tastily active”). This program included an individualized walking scheme for 10 weeks adapted to older adults' fitness level. In addition, in each local meeting point a formal peer leader (i.e., a volunteering older adult who was responsible to implement the guidelines) organized a weekly group walk. Our study involved 19 participating meeting points, counting 504 older adults in total (Mage = 69.2 years) who signed up for the program. In 9 meeting points, peer leadership was distributed among several older adults to create a structure of shared leadership, while in the other 10 meetings points, leadership was assigned to the formal peer leader only. This presentation will focus on how this (shared) peer leadership was implemented and evaluated. We will draw conclusions to inspire future interventions and policies targeting peer leadership in walking groups for older adults.

Background With a rapidly ageing society, healthy ageing has become a key challenge for older adults. Engagement in physical activity, and particularly walking, is a key strategy that contributes to healthy ageing. The present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a group walking program for older adults that incorporates the 5R Shared Leadership Program (5RS), compared to a regular group walking program. By implementing a structure of shared leadership and strengthening peer leaders' identity leadership, 5RS has in other contexts been associated with greater performance and well-being. Methods Our cluster randomised controlled trial included 19 older adult walking groups (i.e., the clusters; N = 503; Mage = 69.23 years, SD = 6.68), which all participated in a 12-week structured group walking program. Nine of these walking groups (n = 304) were randomly assigned to the intervention condition and received additionally the 5RS program. Results Results revealed that 5RS was successful in strengthening the identity leadership qualities of the appointed peer leaders. Moreover, multilevel regressions showed that 5RS succeeded in increasing group cohesion and walking activity to a greater extent than a regular group walking program, while participants' group identification and well-being increased to a similar extent in both conditions. Furthermore, structural equation modelling revealed that group identification mediated the impact of peer leaders' identity leadership on group cohesion and well-being (but not walking activity). Conclusion We can conclude that by harnessing the capacity of the group and its peer leaders, 5RS constitutes a promising intervention to engage older adults in physical activity.

Objectives: This is a protocol for a systematic scoping review. The objective of this review is to help identify, clarify and examine the available evidence on athlete leadership development. Introduction: Cross-sectional and experimental research indicates that athlete leaders in sport teams are key drivers of effective team functioning and their teammates well-being. Therefore, in the recent years, researchers have developed and tested several athlete leadership interventions. However, a comprehensive review of these interventions has not yet been conducted and is therefore, the primary goal of the current systematic scoping review. Inclusion criteria: Studies which include athletes engaging in competitive sport whose athlete leadership potential is being developed will be included within this systematic scoping review. Methods: Five key databases including Web of Science Core Collection (SCI-EXPANDED, SSCI, A&HCI, CPCI-S, CPCI-SSH, BKCI-S, BKCI-SSH, ESCI, CCR-EXPANDED), SportDiscus (via EBSCO), PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library (CENTRAL and CDSR) will be used to conduct the search. The search will be conducted in May 2021. Filters will be included to limit the search to the English Language. All types of articles (including descriptive, qualitative, quantitative and reviews) will be considered. References will be imported and deduplicated using EndNote (Clarivate Analytics). Titles and abstracts will then be screened by two independent reviewers for assessment against the inclusion criteria for the review. We will also conduct a search for grey literature by (a) conducting a search on 'Open access Theses and Dissertations' and 'ProQuest Theses and Dissertations' (b) using forward and backward snowballing from the final articles that will be included within this review and (c) contacting authors whose papers will be included within the review.

Objectives: This is a protocol for a systematic scoping review. The objective of this review is to help identify, clarify and examine the available evidence on athlete leadership development. Introduction: Cross-sectional and experimental research indicates that athlete leaders in sport teams are key drivers of effective team functioning and their teammates well-being. Therefore, in the recent years, researchers have developed and tested several athlete leadership interventions. However, a comprehensive review of these interventions has not yet been conducted and is therefore, the primary goal of the current systematic scoping review. Inclusion criteria: Studies which include athletes engaging in competitive sport whose athlete leadership potential is being developed will be included within this systematic scoping review. Methods: Five key databases including Web of Science Core Collection (SCI-EXPANDED, SSCI, A&HCI, CPCI-S, CPCI-SSH, BKCI-S, BKCI-SSH, ESCI, CCR-EXPANDED), SportDiscus (via EBSCO), PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library (CENTRAL and CDSR) will be used to conduct the search. The search will be conducted in May 2021. Filters will be included to limit the search to the English Language. All types of articles (including descriptive, qualitative, quantitative and reviews) will be considered. References will be imported and deduplicated using EndNote (Clarivate Analytics). Titles and abstracts will then be screened by two independent reviewers for assessment against the inclusion criteria for the review. We will also conduct a search for grey literature by (a) conducting a search on 'Open access Theses and Dissertations' and 'ProQuest Theses and Dissertations' (b) using forward and backward snowballing from the final articles that will be included within this review and (c) contacting authors whose papers will be included within the review.

Objectives: This is a protocol for a systematic scoping review. The objective of this review is to help identify, clarify and examine the available evidence on athlete leadership development. Introduction: Cross-sectional and experimental research indicates that athlete leaders in sport teams are key drivers of effective team functioning and their teammates well-being. Therefore, in the recent years, researchers have developed and tested several athlete leadership interventions. However, a comprehensive review of these interventions has not yet been conducted and is therefore, the primary goal of the current systematic scoping review. Inclusion criteria: Studies which include athletes engaging in competitive sport whose athlete leadership potential is being developed will be included within this systematic scoping review. Methods: Five key databases including Web of Science Core Collection (SCI-EXPANDED, SSCI, A&HCI, CPCI-S, CPCI-SSH, BKCI-S, BKCI-SSH, ESCI, CCR-EXPANDED), SportDiscus (via EBSCO), PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library (CENTRAL and CDSR) will be used to conduct the search. The search will be conducted in May 2021. Filters will be included to limit the search to the English Language. All types of articles (including descriptive, qualitative, quantitative and reviews) will be considered. References will be imported and deduplicated using EndNote (Clarivate Analytics). Titles and abstracts will then be screened by two independent reviewers for assessment against the inclusion criteria for the review. We will also conduct a search for grey literature by (a) conducting a search on 'Open access Theses and Dissertations' and 'ProQuest Theses and Dissertations' (b) using forward and backward snowballing from the final articles that will be included within this review and (c) contacting authors whose papers will be included within the review.

Objectives: This is a protocol for a systematic scoping review. The objective of this review is to help identify, clarify and examine the available evidence on athlete leadership development. Introduction: Cross-sectional and experimental research indicates that athlete leaders in sport teams are key drivers of effective team functioning and their teammates well-being. Therefore, in the recent years, researchers have developed and tested several athlete leadership interventions. However, a comprehensive review of these interventions has not yet been conducted and is therefore, the primary goal of the current systematic scoping review. Inclusion criteria: Studies which include athletes engaging in competitive sport whose athlete leadership potential is being developed will be included within this systematic scoping review. Methods: Five key databases including Web of Science Core Collection (SCI-EXPANDED, SSCI, A&HCI, CPCI-S, CPCI-SSH, BKCI-S, BKCI-SSH, ESCI, CCR-EXPANDED), SportDiscus (via EBSCO), PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library (CENTRAL and CDSR) will be used to conduct the search. The search will be conducted in May 2021. Filters will be included to limit the search to the English Language. All types of articles (including descriptive, qualitative, quantitative and reviews) will be considered. References will be imported and deduplicated using EndNote (Clarivate Analytics). Titles and abstracts will then be screened by two independent reviewers for assessment against the inclusion criteria for the review. We will also conduct a search for grey literature by (a) conducting a search on 'Open access Theses and Dissertations' and 'ProQuest Theses and Dissertations' (b) using forward and backward snowballing from the final articles that will be included within this review and (c) contacting authors whose papers will be included within the review.

Objectives: This is a protocol for a systematic scoping review. The objective of this review is to help identify, clarify and examine the available evidence on athlete leadership development. Introduction: Cross-sectional and experimental research indicates that athlete leaders in sport teams are key drivers of effective team functioning and their teammates well-being. Therefore, in the recent years, researchers have developed and tested several athlete leadership interventions. However, a comprehensive review of these interventions has not yet been conducted and is therefore, the primary goal of the current systematic scoping review. Inclusion criteria: Studies which include athletes engaging in competitive sport whose athlete leadership potential is being developed will be included within this systematic scoping review. Methods: Five key databases including Web of Science Core Collection (SCI-EXPANDED, SSCI, A&HCI, CPCI-S, CPCI-SSH, BKCI-S, BKCI-SSH, ESCI, CCR-EXPANDED), SportDiscus (via EBSCO), PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library (CENTRAL and CDSR) will be used to conduct the search. The search will be conducted in May 2021. Filters will be included to limit the search to the English Language. All types of articles (including descriptive, qualitative, quantitative and reviews) will be considered. References will be imported and deduplicated using EndNote (Clarivate Analytics). Titles and abstracts will then be screened by two independent reviewers for assessment against the inclusion criteria for the review. We will also conduct a search for grey literature by (a) conducting a search on 'Open access Theses and Dissertations' and 'ProQuest Theses and Dissertations' (b) using forward and backward snowballing from the final articles that will be included within this review and (c) contacting authors whose papers will be included within the review.

Objectives: This is a protocol for a systematic scoping review. The objective of this review is to help identify, clarify and examine the available evidence on athlete leadership development. Introduction: Cross-sectional and experimental research indicates that athlete leaders in sport teams are key drivers of effective team functioning and their teammates well-being. Therefore, in the recent years, researchers have developed and tested several athlete leadership interventions. However, a comprehensive review of these interventions has not yet been conducted and is therefore, the primary goal of the current systematic scoping review. Inclusion criteria: Studies which include athletes engaging in competitive sport whose athlete leadership potential is being developed will be included within this systematic scoping review. Methods: Five key databases including Web of Science Core Collection (SCI-EXPANDED, SSCI, A&HCI, CPCI-S, CPCI-SSH, BKCI-S, BKCI-SSH, ESCI, CCR-EXPANDED), SportDiscus (via EBSCO), PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library (CENTRAL and CDSR) will be used to conduct the search. The search will be conducted in May 2021. Filters will be included to limit the search to the English Language. All types of articles (including descriptive, qualitative, quantitative and reviews) will be considered. References will be imported and deduplicated using EndNote (Clarivate Analytics). Titles and abstracts will then be screened by two independent reviewers for assessment against the inclusion criteria for the review. We will also conduct a search for grey literature by (a) conducting a search on 'Open access Theses and Dissertations' and 'ProQuest Theses and Dissertations' (b) using forward and backward snowballing from the final articles that will be included within this review and (c) contacting authors whose papers will be included within the review.

Not applicable to this chapter

Background Hepatitis C virus (HCV) screening is critical to HCV elimination efforts. Simplified diagnostics are required for low-resource settings and difficult-to-reach populations. This retrospective study assessed performance of rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) for detection of HCV antibodies. Methods Two lots of 13 RDTs were evaluated at 3 laboratories using archived plasma samples from 4 countries (Nigeria, Georgia, Cambodia, and Belgium). HCV status was determined using 3 reference tests according to a composite algorithm. Sensitivity and specificity were evaluated in HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected populations. Operational characteristics were also assessed. Results In total, 1710 samples met inclusion criteria. In HIV-uninfected samples (n = 384), the majority of RDTs had sensitivity ≥98% in 1 or both lots and most RDTs had specificity ≥99%. In HIV-infected samples (n = 264), specificity remained high but sensitivity was markedly lower than in HIV-uninfected samples; only 1 RDT reached >95%. The majority of HIV-infected samples for which sensitivity was low did not have detectable HCV viral load/core antigen. Interreader variability, lot-to-lot variability, and rate of invalid runs were low for all RDTs ( Conclusions HCV RDTs should be evaluated in the intended target population, as sensitivity can be impacted by population factors such as HIV status. Clinical Trials Registration NCT04033887

This retrospective study evaluated the reactivity of 3 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) confirmatory assays (INNO-LIA, Geenius, and MP) and 7 HIV rapid tests on samples from 2 different study populations in Belgium. For the early-treated cohort (83 HIV-1 adult patients treated within 3 months after infection), HIV-1 diagnosis was not obtained in at least 1 confirmatory assay in 12.0% (10/83) and in an HIV rapid test in 31.3% (26/83). Confirmation assay sensitivities ranged from 87.5% to 95.2%, whereas rapid test assay sensitivities ranged from 75.9% to 100%. The time to treatment initiation or the length of time on treatment did not have a statistical influence on the probability to obtain a false-negative test result. The fastest reversion was demonstrated after 4 months of treatment. Among the long-term treated cohort (390 HIV-1 patients with ≥ 9 years of undetectable viral load), false-negative test results were found in at least 1 HIV confirmatory assay for 2.1% (8/390) of the patients and in a HIV rapid test for 4.9% (19/390). Confirmation assay sensitivities ranged from 98.1% to 99.5%, whereas rapid test sensitivities ranged from 96.2% to 100%. Longer treatment increased nonreactivity of the HIV rapid tests (P = .033). Undetectable viral load decreases the sensitivities of HIV diagnostic tests, and further monitoring of the performance of serological assays is advised. ispartof: JOURNAL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES vol:222 issue:10 pages:1660-1669 ispartof: location:United States status: published

Objectives. An emerging body of evidence indicates that, in addition to the coach, athlete leaders within a team are vital for a sports team’s success. Sports teams are therefore keen to know which attributes are distinctly characteristic of high-quality leaders on and off the field. The present study aims to shed more light on this question. Method. A wide variety of traits and leadership behaviors was assessed in a sample of 776 athletes, stratified across gender, competitive level, and four sports. The leadership quality of each of the athletes (i.e., as task, motivational, social, and external leader) was determined on the basis of the perceptions of teammates using social network analysis. Results. Findings revealed that leadership behaviors outweighed personality traits in distinguishing high-quality leaders from others on and off the field. Providing identity leadership that creates, embodies, advances, and embeds a collective sense of ‘us’ in their teams was found to be a particularly important leadership behavior that characterized high-quality leaders both on and off the field. Conclusion. The fact that leadership behaviors were important predictors of high-quality athlete leadership (and more important predictors than traits) suggests that leaders are not just born, but can also be made. Our findings therefore highlight the clear need for leadership development programs to target the behaviors that we identified as important predictors of leadership. ispartof: SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF MEDICINE & SCIENCE IN SPORTS vol:30 issue:4 pages:766-786 ispartof: location:Denmark status: published

Objectives. This study explored the relationships between identity leadership and social identification in sport teams over the course of a season using social network analysis. Methods. Participants from 23 competitive sport teams (N = 388, Mage = 20.7 years) indicated the extent to which each of their teammates displayed various forms of identity leadership (i.e., identity prototypicality, identity advancement, identity entrepreneurship, identity impresarioship) and the extent to which these same teammates were seen to identify with the team (assessed by ingroup ties, cognitive centrality, ingroup affect) early and later in a season. Quadratic assignment procedure correlations and multiple quadratic assignment procedure regressions examined the relationships between the different types of networks for each team across time. Results. Athletes who perceived team members to show greater identity leadership perceived those same teammates to identify more strongly with the team both early (rsaverage > .46) and later (rsaverage > 0.48) in the season. Averaged across teams, identity entrepreneurship early in the season was most strongly associated with both perceived ingroup ties (βaverage = .24) and ingroup affect (βaverage = 0.13) later in the season, while identity impresarioship was most strongly associated with cognitive centrality (βaverage = .16). In the reversed direction, perceptions of ingroup ties early in the season were most strongly associated with all identity leadership dimensions later in the season (.28 < βaverage < 0.38). Conclusions. Collectively, these findings provide evidence of a mutually reinforcing bidirectional link such that teammates who are seen as actively contributing to promote a sense of ‘us’ among team members are also more likely to be seen as identifying strongly with the team. ispartof: Psychology Of Sport And Exercise vol:59 status: published

Innovation is considered essential for today's organizations to survive and thrive. Researchers have also stressed the importance of leadership as a driver of followers' innovative work behavior (FIB). Yet, despite a large amount of research, three areas remain understudied: (a) The relative importance of different forms of leadership for FIB; (b) the mechanisms through which leadership impacts FIB; and (c) the degree to which relationships between leadership and FIB are generalizable across cultures. To address these lacunae, we propose an integrated model connecting four types of positive leadership behaviors, two types of identification (as mediating variables), and FIB. We tested our model in a global data set comprising responses of N = 7,225 participants from 23 countries, grouped into nine cultural clusters. Our results indicate that perceived LMX quality was the strongest relative predictor of FIB. Furthermore, the relationships between both perceived LMX quality and identity leadership with FIB were mediated by social identification. The indirect effect of LMX on FIB via social identification was stable across clusters, whereas the indirect effects of the other forms of leadership on FIB via social identification were stronger in countries high versus low on collectivism. Power distance did not influence the relations. ispartof: Applied Psychology vol:72 issue:1 status: Published online

Leadership has been shown to be a fundamental factor influencing the performance of sport teams. Within these teams, leadership can be provided by coaches, formal athlete leaders, such as team captains, and other 'informal' athlete leaders. The role of the athlete leader in a team, either formal or informal, has been consistently reported over the last 10 years to have a significant impact upon a teams' functioning and effectiveness, as well as teammates' general health and mental wellbeing. As such, cultivating the provision of this leadership within a team has emerged as an important focus for managers, coaches, sport psychologists and scholars alike. While the recognition of the importance of athlete leadership is well established, there has been a lag in the development of systematic approaches to enhance and develop the leadership skills and capabilities of the athletes within sport teams. As a result, this paper seeks to review contemporary examples and current understanding of approaches to athlete leadership development. The paper will also highlight future areas for research and applied practice development. ispartof: FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY vol:13 ispartof: location:Switzerland status: published

The aim of this study was to explore the lived experiences of the coach in relation to the perceived function of captains in professional rugby union. Participants were eight elite male rugby coaches purposefully sampled for this study. Participants were interviewed individually to gain an understanding of their experiences and perceptions of the role of the captain. The data were thematically analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Ten super-ordinate themes emerged in the study: types of captain, captain development, challenges, captains’ role, off field responsibilities, nature of the job, selection, cultural architects, coach-captain relationship, and key attributes. Results suggest coaches view the captain as an extension of their authority in the team, leadership groups are increasingly important to support captains, and that the criteria for the selection of captains is still vague. As a result, future research should explore the development of specific evidence-based approaches to captain selection and development. ispartof: Sport Psychologist vol:33 issue:4 pages:276-284 status: published

Some sports coaches believe that empowering the players in their team can undermine their own leadership status. In business organizations, however, recent theorizing on shared leadership refutes this belief by suggesting that the most effective leaders engage in behaviors to strengthen the leadership qualities of their followers. The present study sought to investigate this perspective within sports teams. Social network analyses were performed to study the leadership structure within a stratified sample (across sport, gender, and competitive level) of 64 sports teams, encompassing 64 coaches and 776 players. Next, we related the perceived leadership quality of the coaches to specific characteristics of their teams’ leadership networks. The results highlighted that the perceived leadership quality of the coach was positively related to the density of the team’s leadership networks (i.e., the average leadership qualities of all players). This finding held for the four leadership roles of task, motivational, social, and external leadership. This outcome suggests that the best coaches are the ones who adopt a shared leadership approach and who strengthen the leadership quality of their players. However, our findings also suggest that the perceptions of coaches and players on the team’s leadership dynamics often differ. Consequently, coaches could benefit from the analysis of leadership networks to gain insight in their team’s leadership structure. Based on this knowledge, coaches could then correctly identify the best leaders in the team, as perceived by the other team members. By creating and developing these leaders, coaches then become better leaders themselves. ispartof: JOURNAL OF APPLIED SPORT PSYCHOLOGY vol:32 issue:1 pages:5-27 status: published

© 2018 Based on Self-Determination Theory, the present study adopts a helicopter-perspective towards motivating (i.e., autonomy support, structure) and demotivating coaching (i.e., control, chaos). Among five independent samples, consisting of individual and team sport coaches (N = 893; Mage = 37.83 years) and athletes (N = 377; Mage = 17.46 years), Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) analyses were used to examine how a variety of coaching practices reflective of four different coaching styles (i.e., autonomy support, control, structure, and chaos), assessed with a new vignette-based instrument, related to one another. Findings revealed that the (de)motivating practices could be graphically presented within a two-dimensional circumplex, with the horizontal axis representing the level of need-supportive coaching behavior and the vertical axis representing the level of coach directiveness. Moreover, the four coaching styles could be segmented in eight more specific approaches (i.e. clarifying, guiding, attuning, participative, awaiting, abandoning, domineering, and demanding), which formed an ordered sinusoid pattern of correlations, both among each other and in relation to a variety of critical outcomes (e.g. coach need satisfaction, athletes’ motivation). It is discussed how a circumplex approach produces both a more integrative and more fine-grained insight regarding (de)motivating coaching behavior, with resulting implications for practice. ispartof: Psychology Of Sport And Exercise vol:40 pages:110-126 status: published

There seems to be some initial evidence that team captains are selected based on non-leadership factors such as team tenure, technical abilities, being the daughter of the club president, or playing position. This is concerning since players expect their ideal team captain to have superior motivational and social skills. Adding to this literature on captain selection, the present study investigates relationships between the reasons for which team captains are selected and their (a) perceived leadership quality; and (b) perceived acceptance. To accomplish this, we recruited 450 coaches and 198 players from Flemish football and volleyball teams. Participants evaluated 41 reasons on the extent to which they played a role in the selection of their team captain. Additionally, participants rated their team captain's leadership quality and level of acceptance. The results consistently indicated that captains who were selected for having good motivational and social competencies were given higher ratings on perceived leadership quality and acceptance by participants. In conclusion, athletes who are motivated, good at motivating others and have superior social skills tend to be better suited for captaincy than those selected based on non-leadership factors. ispartof: FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY vol:11 ispartof: location:Switzerland status: published

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of psychological safety in explaining the impact of identity leadership on team performance and athlete well-being. Adopting a cross-sectional survey design, 289 handball players rated the identity leadership skills of their coach, their captain, and the informal leaders in the team, as well as various performance- and well-being-related measures. Structural equation modelling (controlling for the nested structure of our data) revealed that by demonstrating identity leadership, coaches, captains, and in particular informal athlete leaders, all had a unique contribution in strengthening their team members’ identification with their team. By this shared sense of ‘us’, athletes felt psychologically safe in their team to speak up, provide input, and take risks. In line with our hypotheses, this sense of psychological safety acted as a mediator between identity leadership and two subsequent pathways: (1) a team-oriented pathway in which psychological safety inspired good teamwork, which fostered team resilience and, in turn, enhanced athletes’ satisfaction with their team’s performance; and (2) an individual-oriented pathway wherein psychological safety buffered against athletes’ burnout, thereby enhancing their health. In addition to these pathways mediated by psychological safety, the informal leaders directly influenced the performance pathway (with total effect sizes being 10 times larger than those of coaches and team captains), whereas coaches had a direct influence on the health pathway (with total effect sizes being three times larger than those of informal leaders and captains). Given the often-underestimated importance of the informal leaders, sport teams can be recommended to adopt a structure of shared leadership in which team members are encouraged to engage in identity leadership. In conclusion, we found that by nurturing a shared sense of ‘we’ and ‘us’ within the team, leaders are able to foster a psychologically safe environment, which in turn paves the way for an optimal team functioning and a healthier team.

While most leadership programs seek to develop the leadership qualities of the formal team leader, programs that aim to develop the leadership qualities of team members are rare. This article draws on insights from organisational and sport psychology to develop and introduce a new leadership development program — the 5R Shared Leadership Program (5RS) — that (1) implements a structure of shared leadership (through Shared Leadership Mapping) and (2) further develops participants’ leadership potential (through the 5R’s of Readying, Reflecting, Representing, Realising, and Reporting). More specifically, being a close intertwinement of shared leadership theorising and the social identity approach to leadership, 5RS helps leaders in the team to create, embody, advance, and embed a collective sense of ‘us’ in their teams. In this article, we aim to shed light on the underpinning theoretical foundation of 5RS, while also sharing insights about how 5RS can be delivered in practice. Furthermore, to provide initial insight into the applicability of 5RS in both organisational and sport contexts, we conducted a longitudinal qualitative comparison study. This involved collecting qualitative data from two initial implementations: with an organisational team (N = 16) and a sport team (N = 16). A critical reflection on these initial implementations of 5RS leads to recommendations for future efforts to develop shared leadership in organisational and sporting teams. In particular, we highlight the importance of explaining the nature of shared leadership at the start of the program and of having multiple follow-up sessions for participants. In conclusion, by helping leaders in the team to develop and mobilise a sense of ‘us-ness’, 5RS gives leaders and their teams the tools to create the best possible version of ‘us’. ispartof: Psychology Of Sport And Exercise vol:51 pages:101762-101762 status: published

Objectives Leadership has been suggested to be a key factor in gaining a competitive advantage as a team, with shared leadership being a better predictor of team functioning than vertical leadership. Although the benefits of shared leadership are well-documented, evidence about how to implement a shared leadership structure remains sparse. This leaves coaches with three key challenges: (1) identifying the best leaders; (2) defining what roles those leaders should fulfill; and (3) developing their leadership skills. Solutions to these challenges have been proposed in the 5R Shared Leadership Program (5RS) — a leadership development program that seeks to implement an effective structure of shared leadership within sports teams. Design To test the effectiveness of 5RS program, we conducted an experimental-comparison group intervention in which eight national-level basketball teams (N = 96) completed a questionnaire at two points in time (i.e., pre- and posttest). The teams in the intervention condition completed the 5RS program, in which we identified the leadership structure in their teams (through Shared Leadership Mapping), appointed the best leaders in their leadership role, and then developed their identity leadership skills. Results The results revealed that the 5RS program was successful in strengthening athlete leaders’ identity leadership skills, and as a result also team members’ identification with their team. Furthermore, in contrast to athletes in the comparison condition, athletes in the 5RS condition were able to maintain their levels of intrinsic motivation and commitment to team goals, while also reporting improved well-being. Conclusions The present study provides encouraging evidence that, by implementing a structure of shared leadership and by promoting athlete leaders’ identity leadership skills, the 5RS program is able to improve the team’s functioning and the well-being of its members. ispartof: Journal Of Science And Medicine In Sport vol:23 issue:8 pages:770-775 ispartof: location:Australia status: published

Emotional contagion has been recognized as a variable influencing individual behaviour and team functioning. In particular, leaders within the team have been suggested to have a significant impact on their teammates through the expression of their emotions. As a result, the aim of this study was to provide greater insight into how different athlete leaders impact the emotional state of their team members, and whether gender differences existed in these relationships. Participants were 295 university student-athletes (200 male and 95 female) recruited from four universities in the UK. Data were collected in a two-step process. First, a voting/rating procedure was conducted within team to identify dominant task, motivational, social and external leaders. Then, participants completed the emotional contagion subscale of the Measure of Empathetic Tendency to rate the impact different athlete leaders had upon their emotional state. A MANOVA was conducted to explore gender differences in reported emotional susceptibility by leadership role. Subsequent ANOVAs highlighted significant differences between leadership role scores for female participants only. The results suggest that female athletes are more susceptible to emotional influence than male athletes. Furthermore, female athletes experienced a greater variation in the perceived emotional influence of different leadership roles in the team. ispartof: Journal of sports sciences vol:38 issue:10 pages:1181-1185 ispartof: location:England status: published

This chapter shows how leadership is inextricably bound up with group processes of this form and how successful and enduring leadership involves developing, managing, and advancing a sense of shared identity within a given group or team. It aims to use a case study from the field of elite soccer to show how the social identity approach can be applied to develop on- and off-field leadership. The social identity approach to leadership argues that the effectiveness of leaders hinges on their capacity to cultivate a shared sense of “we” and “us” in their teams—in others words, their capacity to demonstrate identity leadership. In exercise contexts, follower perceptions of social identity leadership has been found to positively relate to group identification, which in turn is associated with greater attendance at training/classes. The growing application of the social identity approach to leadership in sport and exercise has been coupled with developments in the field of athlete leadership.

OBJECTIVES: To assess whether social capital benefits older adults' self-rated health and well-being and whether physical activity mediates this relation. METHODS: A survey study was conducted among members of a sociocultural organization (age ≥55 years), both cross-sectionally (baseline Time 1; N = 959) and longitudinally (3-year follow-up Time 2; N = 409). RESULTS: Specific indicators of social capital were positively, though modestly, related to health and well-being at Time 1 and Time 2. Experienced connectedness with age peers emerged as the strongest predictor. Physical activity only mediated the relation with experienced safety in society. DISCUSSION: The relative importance of older adults' experienced connectedness with their age peers underlines the importance of internalized group membership as a determinant of their health and well-being. Physical activity seems to play only a minor mediating role. ispartof: Journal of Aging and Health vol:32 issue:7-8 pages:688-697 ispartof: location:United States status: published

Purpose Grounded in the Cognitive Evaluation Theory, the present experiment aimed to compare the relative impact of competence support provided by coaches versus athlete leaders on players’ competence satisfaction, intrinsic motivation, and performance. Methods We recruited 18 existing competitive male basketball teams (ie, 126 players) to participate in the experiment. Each team was randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (a) the coach provided competence support (ie, by encouraging, providing positive feedback, and expressing team confidence); (b) the athlete leader provided competence support; or (c) neither the coach, nor the athlete leader provided competence support (ie, control condition). Results Teams in which the athlete leader provided competence support reported higher levels of competence satisfaction and intrinsic motivation than teams in the control condition, a difference that did not emerge when the coach provided competence support. Furthermore, teams in which either the coach or the athlete leader supported team members’ competence performed better compared to teams in the control group. Conclusion Our findings highlight the importance of providing competence support to enhance team performance. Given athlete leaders’ unique impact on teammates’ competence satisfaction and motivation, instructing athlete leaders how to provide competence support constitutes an important motivational pathway for coaches to optimize team functioning. ispartof: SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF MEDICINE & SCIENCE IN SPORTS vol:28 issue:12 pages:2734-2750 ispartof: location:Denmark status: published

For many athletes, retirement from higher levels of competitive sport poses significant challenges. Research has shown that athletic identity is a key predictor of adjustment trajectories, but the mechanisms through which this affects outcomes are less clear. Added to this, there has been limited research on the role that wider social identities, and the resources they enable, play in adjustment. Addressing both these issues, we examined theoretically derived social identity pathways to retirement adjustment in athletes who had played sport at higher competitive levels and two potential mechanisms, or psychological resources, through which adjustment might be enabled. This was examined in two samples: retired athletes from countries in Western (n = 215) and Eastern (n = 183) regions. Loss of athletic identity, social group memberships (multiple, maintained and new), psychological resources (perceived meaning in life and control), and adjustment (life satisfaction, depression, and perceived physical health) were assessed. In both samples, the loss of athletic identity undermined adjustment by reducing meaning in life and perceived control. Path analysis showed that both maintained and gained social group memberships counteracted the negative effects of athletic identity loss on adjustment. Evidence that these pathways enabled access to psychological resources was found primarily in Chinese athletes, with maintained groups influencing personal control and new groups influencing meaning in life. These findings highlight the importance of social identity processes to retirement from higher levels of competitive sport and the mechanisms through which they can either support or undermine adjustment. ispartof: Psychology Of Sport And Exercise vol:57 status: published