It's a match! The role of coach–coachee fit for working alliance and effectiveness of coaching

Abstract

The coaching literature emphasizes the role of the coach–coachee working alliance in obtaining positive coaching outcomes and proposes that a good match between coach and coachee promotes this working alliance. However, existing coaching research has some methodological shortcomings that limit drawing robust conclusions about the importance of coach–coachee fit and working alliance for coaching effectiveness. In this study, we investigate coach–coachee fit as an antecedent of the working alliance and its effects on coaching outcomes. Using a three-wave study design, 184 coachees participating in a workplace coaching program in healthcare answered online surveys before, halfway-through, and approximately one month after coaching. We measured both coachee-rated and coach-rated working alliance and, based on person-environment fit theories, we included three measures of coach–coachee fit, that is similarity-fit, general needs-supplies fit, and idiosyncratic needs-supplies fit. Multilevel path modelling revealed that only idiosyncratic needs-supplies fit, where the coach fulfils a coachee's unique needs, related positively to coaching satisfaction through coachee-rated working alliance and predicted improved goal attainment. Coachees’ similarity-fit related positively to their assessment of the working alliance but, unexpectedly, predicted lower coaching satisfaction. Coach- and coachee-rated working alliance related to coaching satisfaction but not goal attainment. These findings make a unique contribution to current debates in the coaching and person-environment fit literatures and advance our understanding of the role of coach–coachee fit and working alliance for affective and behavioural coaching outcomes.