Validating the working alliance inventory as a tool for measuring the effectiveness of coach–athlete relationships in sport

Abstract

The current study investigates whether the Working Alliance Inventory (Blascovich, Mendes, Hunter, Lickel, & Kowai-Bell) and its factors bond, goal, and task are a suitable measurement for documenting the coach–athlete relationship in the sport setting among a sample of 670 Norwegian junior athletes. The results in the current study showed moderate positive associations between WAI and perceived performance and perception of self, and strong negative associations between WAI and athlete burnout. The proposed model in the current study had good fit with the data and explained 13% of the variance in perceived performance, 12% of the variance in perception of self, and 25% of the variance in athlete burnout. The results are discussed in regard to applied implications and possible future research.

Keywords

• working alliance
• sport
• coach-athlete relationship