Assessing the impact of sponsorship on performance motivation among middle-distance track & field athletes in Singapore

• Main Author: Lossinic, J
• Other Authors: C Kunalan
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/72096
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine the extent and effectiveness of extrinsic motivation, in particular, sponsorship, on the performance motives of track and field athletes in Singapore. This study may contribute to the Singapore Athletics Association’s existing knowledge in encouraging athletes to take up track and field beyond secondary school level. The participants involved are eight middle-distance track and field athletes (5 sponsored and 3 non-sponsored) who were selected based on a convenience sampling. They were then interviewed face-to-face. The results are discussed in light of a few motivation theories, namely Self-Determined Theory, Attribution Theory and McClelland's Theory of Needs. One main finding that extrinsic reward serves as a reinforcement mechanism to the athletes’ intrinsic motivation, specifically their competence and purpose. It plays a supporting but significant role in the maintenance of the athletes’ performance motivation.