Abstract
Little research in sport has examined teammate efficacy (TE) and teammate trust (TT), however, research in other contexts suggest that efficacy in other group members (Lent & Lopez, 2002) and trust in teammates (Dirks, 1999) could have a significant impact on the team. The purpose of this study was to have a better understanding of how one defines TE and TT, their causes and outcomes. Twelve interviews were conducted with adolescent female volleyball players—interviews were transcribed verbatim. Hierarchical content analysis was conducted by two independent coders (Patton, 2008). Results indicated that although participants sometimes had difficulty differentiating between TE and TT, TE was often defined based on the teammate's abilities whereas TT was often defined based on the necessity to back-up a teammate or on more emotional aspects. Participants also stated that TE stemmed mostly from the effort (or lack thereof) put forth by teammates and that TT stemmed from how teammates performed in critical situations, the effort put forth and her experience. Participants expressed that TE affected performance in terms of focus, decision making, motivation, and backing-up behaviours whereas TT affected performance in terms of backing-up behaviours, focus, motivation, pressure and frustration. With regards to the development of TE and TT, participants generally indicated that both TE and TT improved over the course of the season, mostly due to the increase in familiarity and skill improvement of the teammates. Results of this study will be compared with quantitative results from the same sample and provide a foundation for future research in this area and context.
