Decision-making in Basketball: An empirical study on the involvement of ecological informers and associative knowledge

Abstract

Introduction In interactive team sports, athletes constantly take behavioral decisions in situationally constrained contexts. Ecological perspectives assume that situational cues guide these decisions. Social-cognitive approaches posit that athletes consider internally stored information to complement ecological information. In line with these notions, significant effects of situational information and associative knowledge on passing decisions in Soccer have been found (Steiner, 2015). The aim of this study was to test the existence of similar effects in Basketball. Methods Three Basketball teams (N = 38, M = 23.47 years, SD = 6.41) playing in the third regional league of the ProBasket Association participated in the study. For each team, graphic illustrations of ten offensive game situations taken from championship games served as stimulus material. Participants took the perspective of the person on the ball and indicated which of six predefined acts (shooting [option A], penetration towards the basket [B], passes to each of four team members [C to F]) would be their first, second, and third choice respectively. Two measures representing situational constraints in regard to each act were calculated: The amount of defensive coverage by opponents and the openness of the area required to perform an act. Furthermore, participants rated all team members on six items covering Basketball-relevant abilities. The ratings were used to calculate measures of associative knowledge. A variable representing personal (for options A and B) and team members’ (options C to F) overall competency and one representing (personal and team members’) situation-relevant competency were computed. Ordinal regressions were calculated to estimate the effects of the ecological context and associative knowledge on the participants’ decisions. Results Results showed significant effects of defensive coverage (β = 1.084, p < 0.001) and the openness of the area required to perform the act (β = 1.086, p < 0.001). The harder a specific act was defended, the lower the chances that this option would be chosen. Chances for an act increased with more space available for its performing. There was no effect of the participants’ overall competency rating of the person involved in an act (self-ratings for options A, B; other-ratings for options C to F; β = -0.496, p = 0.222). A significant effect of the situation-relevant competency ratings on decision making was found (β = 1.009, p < 0.001). Pseudo R2 measures for the model were .116 (Cox & Snell) and .127 (Nagelkerke). Discussion/Conclusion The study supports previous findings regarding the importance of ecological informers and associative knowledge in the decision making processes of interactive team sports. Implications for further research are to specify more ecological variables and clusters of associative knowledge and to test their effects on decision making in sports.