The influence of team-member exchange on turnover intention among student-athletes: the mediating role of interpersonal self-efficacy and the moderating role of seniority

ABSTRACT Based upon Bandura’s (1986) social cognitive theory (SCT), we examined how the relationship quality among student-athletes in team sports, namely team-member exchange (TMX), regulates the relational-cognitive process in determining their turnover intention. Specifically, we examined interpersonal self-efficacy (ISE) as the mediator and seniority as the moderator of the relationship between TMX and turnover intention, based on a field study of 234 student-athletes in South Korea. The results of the partial least squares–structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) showed that TMX is indirectly related to turnover intention, as fully mediated by ISE. Also, student-athletes’ seniority moderates the relationships between TMX, ISE and turnover intention. Supported by SCT, we contribute to the extant literature on TMX by (1) providing a theoretical explanation of how TMX acting as social cues regulates athletes’ self-efficacy and behavioral intention; and (2) examining the role of seniority as a cultural-specific moderator on TMX effectiveness in team sports in the Asian context. We discuss practical implications for coaches and collegiate athletics administrators about the essential arrangement of both leisure and training activities in building quality relationships among student-athletes and self-belief of their interpersonal competency within the team, especially for less experienced and junior student-athletes. HIGHLIGHTS TMX had a positive influence on student-athletes’ interpersonal self-efficacy. Interpersonal self-efficacy negatively affected student-athletes’ turnover intention. Interpersonal self-efficacy fully mediated the relationship between TMX and turnover intention. Student-athletes’ seniority positively moderates the relationships between TMX and interpersonal self-efficacy and between TMX and turnover intention.