Group processes are important in sport as teams must routinely work together to compete and achieve goals. Intrateam conflict occurs when group members perceive differences or incompatibilities in team tasks or relationships with teammates. Research with work teams shows intrateam conflict leads to destructive outcomes including decreased performance, commitment, and desire to remain in the group (De Dreu & Weingart, 2003; Jehn, 1995). Sport scholars have studied conflict in the coach-athlete relationship (Wachsmuth et al., 2017), however, knowledge of intrateam conflict in sport remains scattered, potentially being shadowed by other topics in group dynamics (e.g., cohesion, team building). It is important to identify and synthesize the sport-specific research on intrateam conflict as a first step to understanding this complicated phenomenon. Thus, the first component of this dissertation was a scoping review of intrateam conflict literature. The questions for this review were: 1) What are the sources and outcomes of intrateam conflict in sport? and 2) What conflict management strategies are successful in resolving intrateam conflict in sport? Relevant databases and specific journals were searched for peer-reviewed articles that fit strict inclusive criteria. A total of 18 articles were included. Individual and team-level constructs were identified as sources or outcomes of intrateam conflict. Related to conflict management, four intervention studies were identified, and two studies examined coach conflict management styles. Overall, findings from the scoping review reveal a need for more research in sport settings that specifically addresses intrateam conflict. An initial conceptual model of intrateam conflict is provided which follows an input-mediator-output framework. Sport scholars should aim to develop a sport-specific theory of intrateam conflict to better guide future research. The second component of this dissertation expanded on findings from the scoping review by exploring the relationship between intrateam conflict and a popular organizational outcome, turnover. Organizations strive to retain their members to decrease financial costs (e.g., hiring and training new employees) and to maintain a stable organizational structure (Ongori, 2007). Members of an organization may choose to leave for a variety of reasons, including intragroup conflict (Jehn, 1995; Medina et al., 2005), though job attitudes (e.g., commitment) may moderate this relationship (Vandenberghe et al., 2011). The concept of turnover is more complex in sport as athletes can choose to leave their team to join another or quit their sport entirely. The collegiate sport context has recently made it easier for athletes to transfer schools and continue their playing careers. Yet, it remains unclear if intrateam conflict is a reason why athletes choose to transfer or quit. Thus, the purpose of the second study in this dissertation was to examine the relationship between intrateam conflict, affective commitment, and turnover among collegiate athletes. A sample of 430 current college athletes were recruited and administered questionnaires related to intrateam conflict, affective commitment, intent to transfer, and intent to quit. Regression analyses revealed that relationship conflict and affective commitment are predictors of intent to transfer and intent to quit. Task conflict was only a predictor of intent to transfer. Affective commitment moderated the relationship between intrateam conflict and intent to quit such that this relationship was weaker in athletes with higher commitment levels. Findings from this study support the negative association between intrateam conflict and key group variables in the sport context. Results from a cluster analysis reveal the presence of groups with varying combinations of conflict. Clusters were not significantly different in scores of affective commitment. The low conflict cluster reported the lowest intent to transfer scores of all clusters, and lower intent to quit scores than the cluster with high relationship, moderate task conflict. The current study contributes foundational data to the intrateam conflict in sport literature.
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