The interaction of motivational climate, dispositional goal orientations and perceived ability in predicting indices of motivation

The interaction between perceptions of the motivational climate, goal orien tations, and perceived ability were examined. Junior female volleyball play ers (N=385) from 45 teams participating in a competition completed a survey assessing perceived motivational climate dispositional goal orientations, perceived ability, intrinsic motivation and beliefs about the causes of suc cess. Motivational climate was the strongest predictor of enjoyment/interes t and pressure/tension while goal orientation was the strongest predictor o f effort/importance. Both ego orientation and perceptions of an ego-involvi ng motivational climate were related to ability centered beliefs about succ ess. Effort focused beliefs were predicted by the interaction of task orien tation and perceptions of a task involving motivational climate. The result s are discussed iii light of the tenets of goal perspective theory and the matching hypothesis.