The impact of match importance and gender on the team-serving attributional bias among interdependent sports team players

I. Greenlees, M. Stopforth, J. Graydon, Richard Thelwell, W. Filby, Y. El-Hakim

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This study examined the team-serving attributional bias (TSAB), and moderators of this bias, in sports team players. The authors predicted that, in line with a motivational explanation for TSABs, members of successful teams would make more internal, stable, and controllable attributions than would members of unsuccessful teams, but only after an important match. The authors also examined the impact of gender. After a competitive match, 528 athletes completed a Causal Dimension Scale for Teams and measures of perceived success and match importance. A series of hierarchical multiple regressions indicated that perceptions of success were positively associated with stable, internal, and externally controllable attributions. The authors also found that stability attributions were moderated by gender and match importance, with perceptions of success being positively associated with stable attributions for males regardless of match importance but positively associated with stable attributions only for those females who perceived the match to be important. The results, therefore, provide support for the use of TSABs within sports teams but also indicate that their use may be moderated by gender and match importance.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)54-65
Number of pages12
JournalGroup Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice
Volume11
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2007

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The impact of match importance and gender on the team-serving attributional bias among interdependent sports team players'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this