Coaching: client factors & contextual dynamics in the change process

meta-synthesis pic

A qualitative meta-synthesis

Tünde Erdös, Erik de Haan and Stefan Heusinkveld
COACHING: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THEORY, RESEARCH AND PRACTICE, 1-22, 2020

Context-sensitivity appears to be a key factor in developing the
knowledge base of coaching as a change process.

As an alternative perspective to the more widely held cause–effect
explanations on coaching, this view puts the focus on clients
and their contexts as integral to understanding how coaching
might work and why it is effective. In response to general
limitations of quantitative and mixed-method approaches to
understanding the contribution of client factors and contextual
factors in coaching effectiveness, our systematic metasynthesis
of 110 peer-reviewed qualitative studies identifies
the client factors and contextual conditions that have been
proposed to affect when and how clients engage in effective
coaching. In mapping clients’ intrapersonal and interpersonal
dynamics in coaching, the Integrative Relationship Model
introduced in this meta-synthesis interprets the possible
influence of these dynamics on clients’ change process
through the uniquely integrative lens of qualitative studies.
This integrative perspective appears necessary to give
quantitative researchers future directions in how to investigate
coaching effectiveness.

Download here: Coaching client factors and contextual dynamics