Abstract
Athletes' perceptions of the development and salience of role responsibilities were explored through two projects. First, interviews were conducted with male (n = 8) and female (n = 7) athletes to understand the types of roles that they occupy, and how the expectations for these roles developed. Four general role types emerged: specialized-task roles (e.g., rebounder), auxiliary-task roles (e.g., encourager), leadership roles, and social roles. Specialized-task roles were typically prescribed by a coach, while auxiliary-task and social roles tended to evolve out of group interactions. In the second project, 237 athletes were asked to identify the roles that they perceived to hold. These roles were able to be categorized according to the four role types identified in the first project. Chi-square analyses were conducted to explore the distribution of roles across various sub-groups. Odds ratios indicated that starters were 5.57 times more likely to identify specialized task and leadership roles, while non-starters were 3.93 times more likely to identify auxiliary task roles, all ?2 (1, N = 237) > 15.54, p < .001. The predominance of non-starters who identified auxiliary-task roles suggests a greater reliance on the tacit transfer of role information and the tenets of interpersonal sensemaking explain the salience of various role types in relation to starting status. Implications pertaining to theories of organizational socialization and measurement are discussed.
