Activating Clients’ Resources Influences Coaching Satisfaction Via Occupational Self-Efficacy and Satisfaction of Needs

Abstract

Abstract. This study contributes to process–outcome research in coaching by examining mediating processes, which have received little attention to date. On the basis of a sequential process model of coaching, we assumed that occupational self-efficacy and satisfaction of needs mediate the impact of coaches’ emotional support, encompassing the coach–client relationship and resource activation, on coaching satisfaction. Using several points of measurement over time and taking the nested data structure into account, 52 coaching dyads were analyzed using longitudinal multilevel analyses. The results partly supported our assumptions. Occupational self-efficacy, as well as satisfaction of needs, mediated only the impact of clients’ perceived resource activation on coaching satisfaction. Coaches’ perceived coach–client relationship predicted clients’ assessment of coaching satisfaction, but this effect was not mediated by occupational self-efficacy or satisfaction of needs. The results underscore the importance of activating the clients’ resources to improve coaching effectiveness.