"It's Allowing Space for Vulnerability": Exploring Athletes' Experiences With Trust in Interdependent Sport.

Abstract

Despite trust being associated with a range of favorable outcomes across high-performing team contexts (e.g., enhanced satisfaction, performance), efforts to investigate the meaning of trust in sport remain limited. The purpose of this study was to explore (a) how athletes experience trust, (b) why it is needed within sport teams (e.g., beneficial outcomes), and (c) the mechanisms of trust development. Canadian U Sports athletes (N = 13) were recruited to participate in individual semistructured interviews, which were analyzed using a critical realist approach to reflexive thematic analysis. Athletes positioned vulnerability as an important consideration for trust, which was influenced by precursors (i.e., motive and risk) and facilitators (i.e., one's willingness to trust, perceptions of trustworthiness, and environmental affordances). Based on the outcome of trusting another person (i.e., individual- and team-level benefits or drawbacks), the relationship was either reinforced or undermined. Both theoretical and practical advancements to the field are provided.