The differential mediating roles of task, relations, and emotions collective efficacy on the link between dominance and performance. A multilevel study in sport teams

The current study proposes a three-factor model of group collective efficacy beliefs (GCE; Bandura, 1997), and the accompanying measure, grounded in the following distinct domains of abilities: group task management (GCE-task), management of the relationships among group members (GCE-relationships), and management of the emotions that arise within the group (GCE-emotions). We also test a multilevel model wherein the three-factor GCE (i.e., GCE-task, GCE-relations, GCE-emotions) mediates the negative relationship between individual-level fear of dominance (i.e., a feeling of fear due to the actions of other group members who attack teammates) and objective team performance (i.e., team ranking at the end of the season). The study involved 315 athletes playing in 38 independent sport teams from 23 sport specialties. Results from the confirmatory factor analytic approach supported the validity of the three-dimension GCE scale. Moreover, although individual-level fear of dominance was found to be negatively related to the three facets of GCE, it only exerted a negative indirect effect on team performance through GCE-emotions, thus demonstrating how members’ shared beliefs in distinct group capabilities shape teams’ outcomes. These findings enable us to: 1) establish the distinctiveness of three domains of GCE beliefs shared among group members (i.e., GCE-task, GCE-relations, GCE-emotions), 2) explore the extent to which these GCE beliefs are impaired by fear of dominance, 3) assess their differential effects on team results, and 4) examine the emergence of the role of emotion-related efficacy beliefs in predicting group results.