The power of ‘us’: Leaders’ confidence in ‘us’ inspires team members’ team confidence and performance

We have conducted two experimental field studies in a team sports context examining the impact of athlete leaders (i.e., athletes being perceived as a leader) on their teammates’ confidence and performance. Furthermore, both studies sought to explain the underlying mechanisms through which leaders impact their team members. Study 1* included 102 male basketball players, whereas Study 2** included 144 male soccer players. In order to manipulate the leader’s team confidence, the appointed athlete leader of each team (a confederate) expressed either high or low team confidence. In Study 2, a neutral experimental condition was added. Our findings pointed to team confidence contagion such that when the leader had expressed high (rather than neutral or low) team confidence, team members had more confidence in the abilities of their team. Moreover, leaders’ team confidence affected individual and team performance such that teams led by a highly confident leader performed better than those led by a less confident leader. Structural equation modeling demonstrated that this effect was partially mediated by the leader’s perceived identity leadership and members’ team identification. In conclusion, the findings of these experiments suggest that leaders’ team confidence can enhance members’ team confidence and performance by fostering members’ identification with the team. More particularly, by showing that they believe in ‘us’, leaders are able not only to make ‘us’ a psychological reality but also to transform ‘us’ into an effective operational unit. It is by such means that teams of champions become champion teams. * Fransen, K., Haslam, S. A., Steffens, N. K., Vanbeselaere, N., De Cuyper, B., & Boen, F. (2015). Believing in us: Exploring leaders’ capacity to enhance team confidence and performance by building a sense of shared social identity. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 21(1), 89-100. doi:10.1037/xap0000033 ** Fransen, K., Steffens, N. K., Haslam, S. A., Vanbeselaere, N., Vande Broek, G., & Boen, F. (2016). We will be champions: Leaders' confidence in 'us' inspires team members' team confidence and performance. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, In press. doi:10.1111/sms.12603status: publishe