Exploring athletes' gendered views of coaches and their impact of coach competency ratings.

This study draws on social role theory, role congruity theory, and the black sheep effect to explore athletes' gendered perceptions of coach competence. The study relied on a sample of 308 New Zealand athletes across sports levels and modalities who completed an online survey. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four vignettes, in which coach gender (female vs. male) and coaching style (communal vs. agentic) were manipulated, and athlete gender was considered. The results show that male and female coaches did not receive significantly different coach competency scores (relational and strategic competencies), that a communal coaching style was linked to higher ratings in both relational and strategic competencies, and that the interplay of athlete gender, coach gender, and gender conforming/non-conforming coaching style did not significantly affect coach competence scores. However, participants' comments to the open-ended question presented at the end of the survey suggest that athletes still hold gendered views of coaching competence at the elite level. We discuss the research and practical implications of our findings.

Does Bystander Intervention Training Work? When Employee Intentions and Organisational Barriers Collide.

Scholars have recently begun to consider the role of bystander intervention training in countering workplace incivility and bullying. Given the scarce empirical evidence of bystander training outcomes in occupational settings, this study set out to evaluate the effectiveness of a bystander intervention training in a large healthcare organisation, by assessing changes to levels of psychological safety, bystander efficacy, intent and behaviours over time. One hundred and forty employees in a large healthcare organisation in New Zealand attended the training and were asked to complete three surveys, one conducted at baseline, one carried out 2 weeks following the training and the last survey conducted 2 months later. The qualitative and qualitative findings of this study show that the bystander intervention training resulted in significant improvements to bystander attitudes and beliefs, which were ascribed to the quality of training materials, the facilitator and opportunities to role-play bystander intervention strategies. However, the positive bystander beliefs, attitudes and intent to intervene declined in the months following the training. The qualitative findings shed a light on these results and suggest that the participants required support for training transfer in the form of updated and accessible information about negative acts and bystander intervention strategies, leadership support and role modelling of bystander behaviours and civility, and the implementation of accountability systems that ensure the ongoing development of a civility culture.

Employee Wellbeing: Evaluating a Wellbeing Intervention in Two Settings.

This research presents two studies conducted to evaluate the Wellbeing Game in two different contexts: In a student sample and in an organizational setting. Study 1 investigated the efficacy of the Wellbeing Game, in terms of its effect of wellbeing, stress, and an image valence test, among 60 university students. The results showed that after playing the Wellbeing Game, students reported a significant positive change in wellbeing compared to those who did not play the Wellbeing Game, but there was no decrease in stress or any change in classification of image valence. Study 2 evaluated the Wellbeing Game in an organizational context. Employees (n = 52) in a financial organization played the Wellbeing Game for 4 weeks and answered survey questions about wellbeing and stress at the beginning and end of this period. The results showed that after playing the Wellbeing Game, employees reported lower stress levels, and higher wellbeing levels for those who felt that it had helped them connect more with colleagues. The results from the two studies provide preliminary support that the Wellbeing Game may be an effective wellbeing intervention tool in both an organization and a non-organizational context.