Motivational Climate, Beliefs about the Bases of Success, and Sportsmanship Behaviors of Professional Basketball Athletes

Professional basketball players (n = 76 men and n = 41 women) completed the Perceived Motivational Climate in Sport Questionnaire, an early version of the Multidimensional Sportsmanship Orientations Scale, and a measure of beliefs about the bases for success. The perception of mastery-oriented climate scales were positively associated with the belief that success is due to hard work and to reports of sportsmanship behaviors. The perception of performance-oriented climate scales were positively linked with the beliefs that success is caused by deception and high ability. Most relationships reflected individual differences in perceived motivational climate of athletes within each team.