Abstract
The aim of this study was to examine the effects of organizational climate components on unity in sports teams.
The participants were 1,095 student athletes who were affiliated with the competitive sports clubs of 16 different sports types. Their average age was 17.85 (SD = 2.10) years. They completed questionnaires to assess the perceived team unity using the Unity Scale for Sports Teams (USST; composed of “integration for the group: IG” , “commitment: Co” and “the total of those: Uni” ) , and organizational climate with Organizational Climate Questionnaire (OCQ; composed of “discipline centered on the club: DC” , “free communication: FC” and “acceptance of innovation: AI” ) .
In the results, the DC score of male athletes was higher than that of female athletes, whereas the FC score of female athletes was higher than that of male athletes. All the subscale scores in both USST and OCQ of high school athletes were higher than those of university athletes. All the USST subscales and the FC scores of athletes with 1-2 years or 3-4 experienced years were higher than those of athletes with 5-9 years or more than 10 years. The scores of 5 subscales with the IG removed of regular or semi-regular athletes were higher than those of non-regular athletes. Additionally, there was a positive correlation between the USST scores and the OCQ scores. Furthermore, the FC score significantly predicted the USST scores mediated by the DC and the AI.
On the basis of above-mentioned results, we obtained the following conclusions; (1) there were significant differences in cognitions of unity or organizational climate in sports teams according to sex, school grade, the years of athletic experience and role within the team, (2) promoting free communication should enhance the sense of unity in sports teams.
