The Impact of Social Media on Athletes' Self-Efficacy

The purpose of the study is to understand how social media affects athletes’ selfefficacy. With the ubiquitous presence of social media, it was hypothesized that via social media the source persuasion — one of the four sources that regulates self-efficacy — may be used as a way to encourage or discourage athletes in believing they have, or lack, the skills necessary to complete a task; therefore, persuading athletes to become more or less assured in their abilities despite past experiences. A phenomenological approach was utilized for this study to assist the researcher in conceptualizing ideas that might be dismissed by the boundaries of more traditional approaches. Semi-structured interviews were completed with 10 high-performance athletes in combative sports, and a crossinterview by-question analysis was performed on the data to determine the patterns and themes from the data. Results indicate that social media, and the way that athletes use social media, does have an effect on athletes’ self-efficacy, however the impact of selfefficacy depends on the social media usage. SOCIAL MEDIA AND ATHLETES’ SELF-EFFICACY iii Acknowledgements This thesis was completed with the help from many individuals. I am grateful to have so many positive influences in my life. I realize many people do not have the opportunity or support to follow their interests while balancing other aspects of their life. I am lucky that the things that do crossover not only complement each other but allow me to succeed as well. I’m feeling pretty good about the personal growth that I’ve had through my Master’s degree — hopefully it continues. Life is a funny thing where everything kind of falls into place; here is some overdue appreciation and reflection: Thank you, Philip Sullivan, for taking a chance on me as a Master student. By recognizing how passionate I am about sport psychology and setting up sessions and programs to help benefit me and my peers it has helped me gain much more experience while helping athletes. To me, I have gotten more out of these 3 years than just a degree. I also will always appreciate the guidance towards qualitative research, something that may not have been in your element, but it was something you recognized would benefit me and my research. I’m also grateful to be surrounded by a talented group of individuals who are also passionate about sport psychology and athlete performance. Thank you, Maureen Connolly, for introducing me to the world of Phenomenology, and teaching me how powerful words are. You did not have to, but you always took time out of your day for my random pop-by’s and rants about culture in sport. I am very much looking forward to working with you in the next phase, and the more interesting conversations to come. Thank you, Jennifer and George Gorrell (mom and dad), for the unconditional love and support in my journey to becoming the smartest Gorrell on paper — as well as SOCIAL MEDIA AND ATHLETES’ SELF-EFFICACY iv encouraging me to kick and punch people for as long as I have (inside a sport context). Once again proving you both put what is best for your children before yourselves. I strive to succeed because of the inspiration that the two of you have always provided me. Pat, Neale, and Dani you guys keep me grounded. I’m proud to be succeeding alongside of all of you. Thank you, United Family Martial Arts, for keeping me mostly sane. Training with the organization has allowed me to continue to compete and succeed in sport karate at a competitive level. I respect and admire any positive community that is involved in sport, and this particular community has always been welcoming and supportive of me through the sport. The best compliment is when people support and take interest in your life. An honourable mention to Trevor Nash whose perspectives and philosophical debates with me always had something to offer. SOCIAL MEDIA AND ATHLETES’ SELF-EFFICACY v Table of