ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on key research articles of social identity literature to highlight the role and importance of social identities in coaching contexts. It reviews research on the role and importance of social identities, the content of social identities, and social identity leadership; suggest future research; and outlines applied recommendations for coaches aiming to pull groups together through the harnessing of social identities. The chapter focuses on the role and importance of creating and maintaining social identities for group functioning and performance. It highlights the importance of attending to social identities as a coach when aiming to pull a group together. The key to successfully pulling a group together from a social identity perspective lies in the understanding and promotion of a shared sense of social identity among group members. The social identity approach is a psychological framework incorporating several predictions about cognition, emotion, and behaviour that are communicated through two theories: social identity theory and self-categorisation theory.
