Research suggests that belonging to multiple group memberships before and after life transitions promotes resilience by helping people maintain their well-being compared to those with fewer group memberships. Although group memberships are of key importance for well-being and adjustment to change, the influence of athletes’ group memberships on their well-being remains largely unexplored, despite the numerous transitions they face in sport. Furthermore, no research to date has assessed the effects of group memberships on performance, and little research has assessed the potential mechanisms through which group memberships produce beneficial effects on outcomes. These ideas were explored in this thesis. Two studies within this thesis adopted a longitudinal approach, using questionnaires to examine the effects of players’ group memberships on well-being after a sporting transition. Study 1 focused on team and club transitions for university students and measured changes in well-being across a three month period; Study 2, focused on programme transitions in elite cricket and measured changes in well-being across a two year period. Study 2 also examined whether the beneficial effects of group memberships extended to performance. Both studies demonstrated that players with multiple group memberships before and after transition generally experienced greater well-being after transition. Study 2 also showed that multiple group memberships had beneficial implications for performance. However, when the recency of the transition was taken into consideration, significant interactions between group memberships and time since the transition generally revealed that the beneficial effects were most pronounced for those who had recently transitioned into the clubs, teams, and programmes. Furthermore, both studies revealed that players with multiple group memberships before a transition were better able to maintain these group memberships across the transition (i.e., lose fewer groups) and more likely to identify highly with the new club, team, or programme (i.e., join new groups). Although Study 1 failed to uncover evidence of the processes underpinning these effects, Study 2 provided some evidence that identification with the new group, and (to a lesser extent) personal identity strength, appeared to be important potential mediators of the group membership effects. In Study 3, an experimental approach was employed to investigate whether changing athletes’ group memberships is associated with improvements in performance and persistence in a golf-putting task. To do this, the study manipulated the number of group memberships participants reflected on (i.e., control, one, or five groups) and assessed the effects this had on their performance and persistence (as an indicator of resilience). Results revealed that participants who were asked to reflect on five groups that they belonged to showed a greater improvement in their performance after receiving the group manipulation than those who reflected on one group and those in the control group condition. Furthermore, those who reflected on groups they belong to (whether one, or five) showed more persistence following false failure feedback than those who did not. Although potential mediating mechanisms were measured, there was no evidence that any of these processes accounted for the beneficial impact of group memberships. Overall, the results from this thesis demonstrate that multiple group memberships can promote resilience by making important contributions to athletes’ well-being, performance, and persistence. Thus, athletes should be encouraged to increase the number of group memberships they belong to as this may provide an important psychological resource during times of change.

Cette thèse répond à deux défis auxquels sont confronté les organisations. Premièrement, les organisations sont de plus en plus segmentées en équipes pour exécuter des tâches, mais ces équipes ne fonctionnent pas toujours harmonieusement. Deuxièmement, la créativité des équipes est un facteur clé expliquant la capacité d’adaptation et de croissance des organisations – et à plus long terme, leur survie. Mais la créativité est un processus chargé d’incertitude et à ce titre il est considéré comme une prise de risque. On imagine souvent qu’il suffit de collaborer régulièrement au sein d’une même équipe pour développer des « routines créatives », faciliter le travail en équipe et améliorer la capacité à innover. Toutefois, à force de trop souvent travailler avec les mêmes personnes, on développe des routines inflexibles qui peuvent nuire au travail créatif. Dans ce contexte, les liens d’appartenance externe jouent un rôle clé pour corriger cet effet pervers des collaborations répétées. En participant temporairement à d’autres groupes de travail, les membres d’une équipe donnée peuvent focaliser leur attention sur d’autres sujets et d’autres manières de travailler, ce qui permet de redynamiser leurs pratiques parfois devenues inflexibles avec le temps. Aussi, les liens d’appartenance externe génèrent de la nouveauté et de la diversité au niveau des connaissances et des compétences. Ces idées sont testées à partir de données sur l’industrie du jazz à New York City. Des analyses qualitatives et quantitatives montrent que la relation entre collaboration répétée et créativité des équipes est curvilinéaire, en forme de U inversé. De surcroît, les données suggèrent qu’il est possible, pour une équipe, de conserver un avantage concurrentiel en combinant collaborations répétées fréquemment avec de nombreux liens d’appartenance externe. Cette thèse contribue à la recherche sur le comportement organisationnel, en particulier aux travaux portant sur l’innovation et la créativité des équipes. / This dissertation addresses two core challenges organizations face: First, organizations are increasingly relying on groups for the execution of tasks, but groups do not always function well. Managing groups is considered one of the most difficult and pressing challenges in modern organizations. Second, creative performance fosters adaptability and organizational growth and is therefore crucial for the long-term survival of organizations. Yet, creative performance is challenging as the process is surrounded with uncertainty, and therefore considered risky. A key argument is that repeat collaboration in groups facilitates the establishment of creative routines, fostering intragroup collaboration, and hence fostering creative performance. However, with high intensities of repeat collaboration, routines decrease in flexibility, challenging intragroup collaboration, thereby stifling creative performance. External memberships play important roles in alleviating the negative consequences of high repeat collaboration in groups. By temporarily exchanging memberships, group members divert attention from their group, temporarily focusing on external groups. With attention diversion group members who have collaborated together intensively, overcome fixation on rigid routines. Simultaneously, external memberships function as a source for knowledge variation, diversifying the knowledge bases of ongoing groups. I test these theories using original data from the New York City jazz music industry. Qualitative and quantitative analyses provide evidence for the hypothesis that the relationship between repeat collaboration and creative performance of groups follows an inverted ushaped function. Moreover, data suggest that balancing high repeat collaboration with high external memberships provides a sustained creative advantage for groups. This dissertation contributes to organization behavior, particularly to group-level research and literature on creativity and innovation.