Abstract
Being with others is not synonymous with being a group. Groups are as much about perceived social reality as physical reality (Campbell, 1958). Perceiving a collection as a group influences how individuals think and behave. In the exercise realm, the degree to which a collection of individuals was perceived to be a "group" was positively associated with member adherence in both structured and unstructured settings (Wilson et al., 2011). In sport, teams tend to vary in the characteristics that reflect groupness, like the tightness of bonds and degree of interaction among members. As such, one wonders whether perceiving the team as "groupier", even within the physical reality of being a "team", would positively relate to adherence in a manner similar to other structured activity settings. After self-identifying involvement in a structured sport team, participants (N = 166) completed an online questionnaire assessing groupness (i.e., common fate, mutual benefit, social structure, group processes, and self-categorization; Spink et al., 2010) and adherence (i.e., frequency and attendance). Structural equation modeling results revealed an acceptable model fit: ?2= 21.54, p = .06, RMSEA = 0.07 (CI: 0.00-0.11). Groupness was positively related to adherence, with the squared multiple correlation for adherence = .07. These findings support previous research in activity settings and suggest that groupness is an important variable to consider when assessing adherence in sport teams.
