Divided we fall: Examining the relationship between horizontal communication and team commitment via team cohesion

The present study examined the relationship between horizontal communication (intra-team) and team commitment via team cohesion. Horizontal communication included positive conflict, distinctiveness, negative conflict, and acceptance dimensions. Team cohesion included group integration-task and group integration-social dimensions. A total of 340 intercollegiate student-athletes from several different institutions in Hong Kong, China, participated in the study. Data analysis included a confirmatory factor analysis and structural equational modeling. Several interesting results were found. The acceptance dimension of horizontal communication had a significant positive association with both group integration-task and group integration-social. The negative conflict dimension of horizontal communication also had a significant negative association with both group integration-task and group integration-social. No direct effects of horizontal communication on team commitment were found. However, the data showed that horizontal communication had indirect effects on team commitment via both team cohesion dimensions. The links between acceptance and commitment via group integration-task and group integration-social, for example, were both significant.