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Motivational clusters and performance in a real-life setting

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Abstract

The present research investigated whether assessing adolescent elite athletes’ motivational profiles at the beginning of the season would allow us to predict their subsequent performance over the course of a competitive season. In two studies, athletes completed the French version of the Sport Motivation Scale (Brière et al., Int J Sport Psychol 26:465–489, 1995) at the beginning of the season. Objective levels of performance were recorded for the following season, as well as for the season prior to questionnaire completion. In Study 1, the sample comprised a total of 170 French junior national tennis players (M = 13.42 years). Results revealed the presence of a four-cluster solution, reflecting different levels of autonomous and controlled motivations. Results revealed that controlling for past performance, athletes with the least self-determined motivational profile obtained lower levels of subsequent tennis performance than those in the three other (more self-determined motivational) clusters. In Study 2, there were a total of 250 French junior national fencers aged 15 years. Results revealed a three-cluster solution very similar to that of Study 1. In addition, in line with Study 1, results revealed that the least self-determined motivational profile led to the lowest level of performance. Overall, these findings suggest that cluster analysis is useful in the understanding of the complex relationship between motivation and performance in elite sport.

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Notes

  1. It should be noted that because of the extremely high level of variance in the scores of the French Federation of Tennis, both the Performance 3 and Performance 4 scores were subjected to a log transformation.

  2. All Fs, Ps, and η² can be obtained through the authors.

  3. We also calculated the rank of each player relative to those within the present study (higher ranks = lower performance). Thus, based on the scores from the French Tennis Federation, each player was ranked from 1 to 170 for the first season, as well as for both the first and second seasons combined. Then the mean rank of each cluster was compared. Results for the first season revealed the following ranks: high AU–high C cluster = 77.4; mod AU–low C group = 70.3; high AU–mod C group = 70.2; mod AU–high C = 98.9. In line with the other results from this study, the least self-determined cluster (mod AU–high C cluster) was found to be ranked lower than the other three that did not differ among them, F(3, 166) = 2.47, P = .06, η² = .04. These results were replicated with performance for the two seasons combined with mean ranks of 75.7, 71.7, 75.7, and 104.3 for the four clusters in that order, F(3, 166) = 2.80, P < .05, η² = .05. What these results reveal is that national tennis players with the least self-determined motivational profile assessed before the beginning of the first season were ranked significantly lower (some 20 ranks lower after one season, and even 30 ranks lower after two seasons!) than other tennis players their own age who had a more self-determined motivational profile. Clearly motivation matters with respect to performance!

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Acknowledgments

Preparation of this manuscript was supported in parts by grants from the Fonds Québécois pour la Recherche sur la Société et la Culture (FQRSC) and the Social Sciences Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) to the second author.

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  1. Laboratoire de Psychologie Appliquée, Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, 57, rue Pierre Taittinger, 51096, Reims Cedex, France

    Nicolas Gillet & Elisabeth Rosnet

  2. Département de psychologie, Laboratoire de Recherche sur le Comportement Social, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Robert J. Vallerand

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Gillet, N., Vallerand, R.J. & Rosnet, E. Motivational clusters and performance in a real-life setting. Motiv Emot 33, 49–62 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-008-9115-z

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