Trust within the coach-athlete relationship through digital communication

Abstract

The coach-athlete relationship is one of the most important relationships in an athlete's life. Trust is one essential element that is characteristic of a good coach-athlete relationship and is built and maintained at least partly through communication. With new emerging technologies and apps, the ways in which coach and athlete communicate are changing, from strictly face-to-face settings, to more digital communication through apps, websites, and other technologies. With this emerging trend, it becomes necessary to examine the role the technology plays in the development of trust in coach, as well as the role the technology itself plays. The following chapter discusses the constructs of trust in coach, trust in technology, as well as trust through technology, proposes an integrated model of these constructs, and provides initial empirical validation for the proposed model. Implications both for practice and further research are discussed.