Relationship between goal orientation and perceived motivational climate in football players of different playing positions

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine whether the characteristics of goal orientation and perceived motivational climate change according to the playing positions of amateur footballers. Material and Methods: Four hundred and sixty amateur male football players participated in the study (age, 21.72±4.63 years; football experience, 9.24±4.18 years). Footballers were named as the defence (n=199), midfield (n=187) and forward (n=74) according to their playing position. The scores of perceived motivational climate and goal orientation were determined by the Turkish versions of ‘The Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire’ and ‘The Perceived Motivation Climate Questionnaire’, which were adopted by Toros (2002). Results: Pearson correlation analyses showed that football experience had no effect on task orientation, ego orientation, mastery climate, and performance climate. ANOVA and post-hoc Tukey tests showed that task orientation and mastery climate scores were higher in defence players than midfield players (p=0.003 vs. p<0.001). Ego orientation and performance climate scores of the midfield and defence players differed in favour of the midfield players (p<0.001 vs. p<0.001). Although there were no statistically significant differences in terms of the scores of task orientation and ego orientation among forward, defence, and midfield players, performance climate scores were higher in forward players than midfield players (p<0.001). Conclusion: According to the results of this study, players who have higher task orientation and mastery climate scores can play as defence players, and other players who have higher ego orientation and performance climate scores can play as midfield players. With the need for more extensive studies to determine the goal orientation and motivational climate scores of forward players, scores that are obtained from questionnaires should be evaluated with physical and physiological tests.