Organizational citizenship behavior as a measure of performance in sport: relationships with leadership, team cohesion, and athlete satisfaction

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] The purpose of this study was to examine aspects of the Multidimensional Model of Leadership (MML; Chelladurai, 1978), the theory of team cohesion (Widmeyer, Brawley, & Carron, 1985; Widmeyer & Williams, 1991), and a model of athlete satisfaction (Chelladurai & Riemer, 1997) and how these theories related to organizational citizenship behavior (OCB; Organ, 1988) in sport. A total of 281 student-athletes from a large Division I university and a smaller Division III university representing a variety of sports participated in the study. Results of the study provided evidence for OCB as a valid measure of performance in sport. Results also supported the hypothesized circular relationship amongst team cohesion, athlete satisfaction, and performance (Martens & Peterson, 1971; Williams & Hacker, 1982) as well as many of the predictions hypothesized in the MML, the theory of team cohesion, and the model of athlete satisfaction. However, based on discrepancies with the proposed models, a new model depicting the relationships among leadership, team cohesion, athlete satisfaction, and performance is presented. Results are discussed in the context of previous literature as well as theoretical, research, and practical implications.