Abstract
There are many reasons why an individual might choose to return to a sporting situation, including aspects of the group environment. One group factor that may impact one’s decision to return is the individual’s perceptions of what others in the group are doing. One possible set of behaviours that might entice others to want to return to a group is prosocial behaviours, as it is not a stretch to envision that when group members are perceived as being supportive and helpful, one is likely want to return to the group. This study examined whether the norm for prosocial behaviour within a sport group would be related to intention to return to the same group, in youth participating in a one-week summer volleyball camp. Participants (N = 145), who were divided into 13 smaller independent groups for the duration of the camp, completed a questionnaire assessing individual perceptions of how many members within their small group displayed prosocial behaviours during the camp (4 items, modified from Kavussanu & Boardley, 2009), as well as two items assessing intention to return to that group for a future camp. As individual responses were nested within groups (ICC = .07), hierarchical linear modelling was used. Results indicated that the norm for prosocial behaviour was positively related to intention to return (β = .23, p = .01), explaining 5% of the variance, with variance occurring at both the individual (3.3%) and group (25.3%) level. The more individuals in the group were perceived to be providing positive feedback and encouraging others (i.e., prosocial behaviours), the more likely individual members reported wanting to return to the same group. Results of this study provide preliminary evidence that norms for one behaviour (prosocial) are associated with another individual behaviour (intention to return to that at group in the future).
