Zusammenfassung

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between the perceived quality of HRM, trust among athletes, their trust in head coach, and the perceived team cohesion in the context of basketball teams from four South East European countries. First, the modified version of HRM quality scale was verified on one sample of 277 athletes from 36 clubs. Then the model was developed with the theoretical fundamentals of social exchange theory and tested on data from other sample of 282 athletes from 37 basketball clubs. Results show that the perceived quality of HRM directly affects degree of athletes’ trust in the head coach. However, it does not have a direct impact on trust among athletes, neither on team cohesion. However, athletes’ trust in the head coach mediates the indirect effect between the perception of HRM and the perceived cohesiveness within the team, and it also plays the mediating role in the perceived HRM – trust among athletes’ relationships.