A Large-scale Study of Executive and Workplace Coaching: the Relative Contributions of Relationship, Personality Match, and Self-efficacy

This large-scale study of executive coaching explores the perceived effectiveness of coaching from the perspectives of coach, coachee, and sponsor, and potential active ingredients including the coach–coachee working alliance, coachee self-efficacy, personality, and “personality match” between coach and coachee. Using a retrospective design, data was collected from 1,895 client–coach pairs (366 different coaches) from 34 countries, and 92 sponsors, for a total of 3,882 matching surveys. Results indicate that coachee perceptions of coaching effectiveness (CE) were significantly related to both coachand coachee-rated strength of the working alliance and to coachee self-efficacy but unrelated to coachee or coach personality and to personality matching. The coachee– coach working alliance mediated the impact of self-efficacy on CE, suggesting that the strength of this working alliance—particularly as seen through the eyes of the coachee—is a key ingredient in CE. In addition, a strong emphasis on