Demographic factors affecting achievement goal orientation among Kenya volleyball league players

Abstract

This study sought to investigate relationship between demographic factors and goal orientation of Kenya’s volleyball league players. It was guided by the hypothesis that demographic factors of Kenya volleyball league players have no significant difference on goal orientation. Demographic factors under study-included age, gender, participation status, team level, and players’ experience. Demographic questionnaire and the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire (TEOSQ) were the instruments for data collection. A total of 134 volleyball players from twelve National Volleyball League division one and two teams participated in the study. The players were selected by stratified random sampling. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Chi square test of independence (p=0.05). Findings of the study showed that the percentage of task oriented players was higher on all the five categories of age, gender, level, status and experience under study. However, the chi square values obtained showed that these differences were not statistically significant. Therefore, the hypothesis that there is no significant difference among Kenya volleyball league players on task and ego orientation based on demographic characteristics was accepted. The study concluded that there is no significant difference on task and ego orientation among Kenyan volleyball league players. It recommended that coaches, trainers and managers need to emphasize intrinsic motivation among the players due to its relation to task orientation. It further recommended for a comparative study on different sports on goal orientation and a cultural based study to establish if goal orientation is a cultural phenomenon.