Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire: A Mokken Scale Analysis

Abstract

Athletes’ goal orientations have been associated with a wide array of sport-related behaviors, thoughts, and perceptions. The two main goal orientations defined in the achievement goal theory framework are task and ego orientations. The task and ego orientation questionnaire (TEOSQ) was developed to assess levels of task and ego goal orientations in sport-related settings and is widely used in research in the field of sport psychology. Its use in research rests on the assumption that sum scores of the TEOSQ can be used to order individuals by their levels of the two goal orientations. In this study, the soundness of this assumption is evaluated using Mokken scale analysis (MSA). TEOSQ responses from 749 football players were used in the analysis. Both the monotone homogeneity model and the double monotonicity model were fitted. The scalability coefficients for both the task and ego orientation subscales were 0.45 indicating a moderately good scalability. Invariant item ordering did not hold for either of the two subscales. There is definite room for improvement in the TEOSQ. Several improvement suggestions are made and further research directions are discussed.

Hope for success as a mediator between Big Five personality traits and achievement goal orientation among high performance and recreational athletes

“…The positive relationship of hope with task orientation obtained in our study (the second path of the indirect effect in our mediation model) corresponds to the correlation found by Roedel et al [ 42 ]. Task orientation, similarly to hope for success, correlates with perseverance, orienting towards personal growth, and developing new skills [ 56 ]. What is also possible is that athletes with high hope for success, thanks to their involvement and effects, also receive more positive feedback, which is conducive to higher task orientation.…”