Goal Orientation, Motivation, and Competitive Anxiety in Players of Domestic Cricket in Pakistan

Received 11 Mar, 2019

Accepted 27 Jan, 2020

Published 31 Mar, 2020

The present research was conducted to examine the relationship between goal orientation, motivation, and competitive anxiety in players of domestic cricket in Pakistan. The sample comprised of 105 male domestic cricketers aged between 18 to 35 years (M = 20.02, SD = 2.75). Correlational research design and purposive sampling strategy was used to draw sample from different cricket clubs and academies in Lahore and the permission to collect data was taken from the authorities of Pakistan Cricket Board. Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire (Duda & Nicholls, 1992), Sport Motivation Scale-II (Pelletier, Rocchi, Vallerand, Deci, & Ryan, 2013), Sport Anxiety Scale-2 (Smith, Smoll, Cumming, & Grossbard, 2006), Beliefs About the Causes of Sport Success Questionnaire (Duda & Nicholls, 1992) and Multidimensional Inventory of Perfectionism in Sport (Stober, Otto, & Stoll, 2006) were administered to the participants. Pearson product moment correlation revealed that ego orientation was positively correlated with external regulation, whereas task orientation was positively correlated with intrinsic regulation. Also, intrinsic regulation was negatively correlated with competitive anxiety. Regression analysis revealed that intrinsic regulation was a negative predictor of competitive anxiety and somatic anxiety after controlling the effects of perfectionism and beliefs about success.

Sports can be defined as any physical activity or exertion in which participants compete against each other in the form of a team or individually as well. There are different types of sports such as cricket, hockey, football, and tennis. Sports are very important in our lives in order to remain healthy and physically fit. Cricket is very popular in the world and in Pakistan as well. Cricket is played in the form of a team in which one team competes against another team. The players of cricket sometimes face many problems related to their game such as competitive anxiety and problems related to their motivation in the game. Different players have different goals related to their game. Some players practice their game for improving their skills, learning a new skill and gaining mastery in their skills, they are task- oriented athletes and others practice merely for winning and beating others and they are more ego-oriented. Hence, the present study aimed to study the relationship of these psychological constructs including goal orientation, motivation, and competitive anxiety in cricket team players.

Goal orientation can be defined as an innate tendency of an individual to develop an ability in achievement settings (Walle, 1997). It has different dimensions related to activity, dominance, and competence. It shows the tendency of people to use their capability of progress by trying to be superior over others (Deci & Ryan, 1985). According to Deci and Ryan, there are two kinds of goal orientation, which are ego and task orientation. When an individual is task-oriented, he or she focuses on learning a skill and on improvement in his or her skills. In task orientation, an athlete has his interest in mastering a certain skill or task undertaken by an athlete. An athlete feels confident or competent about his or her ability to do well or performing well during a game when he or she masters a certain skill or task. Task-oriented athletes are intrinsically motivated, they seek pleasure from activities or tasks they do, and they judge their success by hardworking and improvement. They have belief that success in sport comes mainly by hardworking, putting more effort, and mastering skills. Task-oriented athletes choose such tasks which require more challenges and effort for their completion.

On the other hand, when an athlete is ego-oriented, he or she mainly focuses on winning and beating others and not on learning a skill or gaining mastery in a skill. Ego-oriented athletes make social comparisons with others and they judge their abilities and success in comparison with others by doing better than others (Pensgaard & Roberts, 2003). Ego-oriented athletes adopt maladaptive motivational patterns and they are extrinsically motivated. They select tasks which they think are easier and their chances of success in these tasks will be high. Ego-oriented athletes are prone to competitive anxiety during or before the competition if they compare their abilities with others (Duda & Hall, 2001).

There is a significant relationship between goal orientation and competitive anxiety. It was found that the athletes who are more ego-oriented have higher levels of competitive anxiety as compare to those who are more task-oriented. As ego-oriented athletes focus only on winning and beating others, they do not focus on developing their skills in sports, but their focus is always on wining despite of their skills and capabilities. As a result of this, they experience more competitive anxiety during any competition. On the other hand, the athletes who are more task-oriented have lower levels of competitive anxiety as their focus is on developing and gaining more mastery in their skills rather than just winning and beating others. They experience less competitive anxiety because they are more skillful than the ego-oriented athletes and they know how to be successful in their sports by relaying on their skills (Saadan, Hooi, Ali, & Jano, 2016). Ego-oriented athletes have beliefs that having higher levels of athletic ability, taking the illegal advantage such as drugs or doping and some external factors cause success in sport. Whereas, athletes having task orientation believe that success in sports comes from hard work, learning new skills/techniques, and gaining mastery in skills (Duda & Nicholls, 1992).

Motivation is a basic feature of a person’s life and impacts when and how efficiently tasks are executed both inside and outside of a sport setting. Motivation is a hypothetical idea, in which both external and internal forces that generate the beginning, course, strength, and dedication of behavior are explain. There are three different kinds of motivation (Deci & Ryan, 1985). First is intrinsic motivation, which is performing a task because it is internally interesting or pleasurable. Intrinsic motivation can also be defined as doing any activity for itself, and for the satisfaction and pleasure gained by doing that activity. An athlete performing a specific task or skill in a sport, gains pleasure and satisfaction from learning of a new skill or task in that sport, shows his or her intrinsic motivation. The second one is extrinsic motivation, which is doing something for some external gains as to gain some rewards or praise from someone. An individual who is extrinsically motivated does a task or activity not with full devotion or interest but his or her goal is to achieve some outcome or materialistic things such as rewards, praise from someone, and to gain fame in society. The absence of any self-determination is called amotivation, which is the third type. The amotivation is the absence of both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. So, the individual has no reason to take part in the tasks or activities (Deci & Ryan, 1985).

Deci and Ryan (1985) discussed different subtypes of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation ranges from low self-determination to high self-determination, and it has four subtypes including: external, introjected, identified, and integrated regulations (Deci & Ryan, 1985). According to Deci and Ryan, External regulation is circumstances in which the behaviors of an individual are guided and directed through the means of external factors such as rewards or punishments and this external regulation is generally associated with extrinsic motivation. So, basically athletes having external regulation will only play for gaining a reward or getting praise from others because they are not internally motivated. In introjected regulation, an athlete performs an activity in order to avoid shame or guilt and to maintain self-esteem. It is a controlled form of motivation in which an athlete has a low self-determination. The actions of an athlete are control by external factors and athlete performs a task or activity to maintain his or her good image in front of others. In identified regulation, an athlete performs an activity or action because he or she thinks of that activity or action as personally important. Identified regulation involves personal commitment to an action or activity. The individual perceives that particular action or activity as beneficial and important and thinks he or she should perform that action. Integrated regulation is another type of extrinsic motivation in which an athlete not only sees a particular action or behavior as important but also thinks of that action or behavior as a part of life, needs, and objectives. He or she has a belief that this particular action makes him or her who they really are (Deci & Ryan, 1985). The ego-oriented people more likely have extrinsic motivation and higher levels of competitive anxiety as their main focus is to win and beat others so they also they experience high levels of competitive anxiety as compare to the task-oriented athletes (Lopez, Gallegos, Extremera, & Abraldea, 2014).

Competitive anxiety refers to the propensity to view situations of competition as menacing and responding to them with apprehension and stress. Anxiety consists of two components which are: cognitive anxiety and somatic anxiety and they both affect the performance of an individual before and during competition. Cognitive anxiety includes the mental element in which negative evaluations about the self, negative self-talk, worry about performance, and concentration disruption are included. Somatic anxiety includes the physiological component in which body arousals such as high blood pressure, increased heartbeat, nervousness, sweating, and muscular tension are included. In sports, competitive anxiety means a spontaneous state of emotions associated with feelings of dread and apprehension linked with body’s reactions in competitive states (Martens, Vealey, & Burton, 1990).

The task-oriented athletes experience less competitive anxiety as compare to the ego-oriented athletes in sports as they believe in their skills and capabilities (Ommundsen & Pedersen, 1999). In a study, it was found that the ego-oriented athletes had greater competitive trait anxiety and had lower self-confidence as they only play for pleasing other people and to beat others and to make comparisons with other athletes. They have low-self-confidence as they do not believe in themselves and in their abilities (Mike, John, & Todd, 2000; White & Zellner, 1996). Another important variable affecting this relationship can be perfectionism.

Perfectionism refers to a style of personality in which a person strives for immaculate performance and expects flawless performance. He sets the bar of standard for performance exceptionally high for himself as well as for others around him (Hamidi & Besharat, 2010). Athletes who strive for perfectionism in sports have high levels of anxiety, negative evaluations about themselves, low self-confidence, and concentration disruptions. Athletes, who have doubts about their abilities in sports context, have low self-confidence and they show concern over the reactions of others about them (Frost & Henderson, 1991; Hamidi & Besharat, 2010). Therefor, there is a need to control this variable while studying relationship between goal orientation and anxiety. Higher levels of competitive anxiety negatively affect the sport performance of the athletes. By having higher competitive anxiety, they experience increased autonomic arousals and higher somatic and cognitive anxiety. They will negatively evaluate the situation, and this will interrupt their focus on their game (Ramaprabou, 2016).

Chambers and Marshall (2017) also found that the players who have higher levels of competitive anxiety and perfectionism in golf, reported higher levels of concentration disruptions in golf. They could not focus well on their game due to high levels of competitive anxiety, in which they experience higher levels of somatic and cognitive anxiety. Kang and Jang (2018) also found support for the negative impact of competitive anxiety on performance of the players. It was seen that when athletes become more task-oriented then their competitive anxiety decreases, however, when their wish or desire is only to win a certain game, their competitive anxiety also increases (Jamshidi, Hossien, Sajadi, Safari, & Zare, 2011).

There are also some studies related to the culture or ethnic groups. One of these studies showed that the Indian participants had higher levels of both somatic and cognitive competitive anxiety as compared to the Chinese participants. These differences were attributed to negative appraisal of situation among Indian respondents leading them to develop more somatic symptoms as compared to the Chinese respondents who had more positive thinking pattern and experienced less bodily symptoms of anxiety and they can cope easily with high pressure situations (Parnabas & Mahamood, 2013).

Motivation of sportsmen can also have an impact on competitive anxiety in some situations. Schaefer, Vella, Allen, and Magee (2016) found that athletes who have higher motivation in sports have lower levels of competitive anxiety as they are internally motivated and believe their abilities to manage and cope with tough and challenging situations. Indigenous literature showed that Pakistani and Chinese players were higher in ego orientation and lower in task orientation and had higher competitive anxiety as compare to German players (Asghar, Wng, Linde, & Alfermann, 2013). Indigenous literature also revealed negative but nonsignificant correlation between competitive anxiety and performance, and also negative but nonsignificant correlation between emotional intelligence and competitive anxiety (Fayyaz, Amjad, & Anjum, 2018).

Rationale of the Present Research
Sports play a vital role in an individual’s life. Sports are vital in order to remain fit. In Asia, cricket is the most frequently played sports, however, unfortunately very little research work has been done on sports in Pakistan (see, e.g., Asghar et al., 2013; Hussain, Zaman, & Idris, 2014). Cricketers face many problems such as anxiety, pressure handling, and lack of motivation, therefore, this present study aimed to explore the relationship between goal orientation, motivation, and competitive anxiety in players of domestic cricket. Goal orientation plays a vital role in sports and in the performance of cricketers in sports settings. There is a need to investigate this area; this study will highlight this area of sports psychology which is being ignored. It will also take the attention of psychologist to the anxiety being manifested in the cricketers and interventions being required in the area. It will also take the attention of the sports authorities to the fact that cricketers can also have psychological issues which need to be dealt by the sports psychologists in order to help them to perform to their full potentials. This research aimed to find out the relationship between goal orientation, motivation, and competitive anxiety in players of domestic cricket. Moreover, it also aimed to examine the predictive role of goal orientation and motivation for competitive anxiety in players of domestic cricket.

Hypotheses

1.	Ego orientation will positively correlated with competitive anxiety; task orientation will negatively be correlated with competitive anxiety
2.	There will be a positive correlation between task orientation and intrinsic regulation; and between ego orientation and external regulation
3.	Intrinsic regulation will be negatively correlated with competitive anxiety
4.	Goal orientation and motivation will predict competitive anxiety in players of domestic cricket after controlling their beliefs for success in sports and perfectionism

METHOD

Sample
The sample comprised 105 male players of domestic cricket with the age range between 18-35 years (M = 20.02 years, SD = 2.75). These cricketers were selected from the different cricket clubs and academies such as National Cricket Academy, Gaddafi Stadium Lahore, Abdul Qadir International Cricket Academy Lahore, Aleem Dar Cricket Academy Lahore, Pak Lions International Cricket Academy Lahore, Model Town Cricket Club Lahore, Model Town Greens Cricket Club Lahore, Cricket Centre Model Town Lahore, Sabzazar Eaglet’s Cricket Club Lahore, Sabzazar Gymkhana Cricket Club Lahore and from the players in on-going Pakistan One Day Cup 2018, Faisalabad.

Table 1:	Mean Scores and Standard Deviations of the Demographic Characteristics of the Participants (N = 105)

Table 1 shows range, mean values, and standard deviations of sample characteristics. Findings show that respondents age range from 18 to 33 years with an overall experience as domestic Cricketer from 1 to 15 years. Participants report taking part in 1 to 18 tournaments per year and they take practice daily from 2 to 11 hours.

Measures
Following measures were used in the present study.

Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire (TEOSQ; Duda & Nicholls, 1992). It was used to find goal orientation of the domestic cricketers. It has total 13 items. It has 2 subscales: Task Orientation (7 items) and Ego Orientation (6 items). Participants respond to a 5-point Likert Scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). In this present research, Urdu version of this tool was used, and it was translated by present researchers with the permission of original author following forward backward translation method. In the present study, alpha coefficients for Urdu translated version were .75 for Ego Orientation and .82 for Task Orientation.

Sport Motivation Scale-II (SMS-II; Pelletier et al., 2013). This scale was used to measure the motivation of the domestic cricketers. It has total 18 items. It consists of 6 subscales: Intrinsic Regulation (3 items), Integrated Regulation (3 items), Identified Regulation (3 items), Introjected Regulation (3 items), External Regulation (3 items) and Non-Regulation (3 items). Responses are made on 7-point Likert Scale ranging from 1 (does not corresponds at all) to 7 (corresponds completely). Responses are scored by summing all the scores on respective subscales. In this present research, Urdu version of this tool was used, and it was translated by following forward backward translation method by present researchers with the permission of original author. Cronbach’s alpha of Urdu translated version was .71 for Intrinsic Regulation, .52 for Integrated Regulation, .66 for Identified Regulation, .60 for Introjected Regulation, .63 for External Regulation and .67 for Non-Regulation.

Sport Anxiety Scale-2 (SAS-2; Smith et al., 2006). SAS-2 was used to measure competitive anxiety. It consists of total 15 items. It has three subscales: Somatic Anxiety (5 items), Worry (5 items) and Concentration Disruption (5 items). Participants respond on a 4-ponit Likert Scale ranging from 1 (not at all) to 4 (very much). In this present research, Urdu version of this tool was used, and it was translated following forward backward translation method by present researchers with the permission of original author. Cronbach’s alpha of Urdu translated version was .86 for Total SAS-2, and for subscales were .77, .80, .53 for Somatic Anxiety, Worry, and Concentration Disruption respectively.

Beliefs About the Causes of Sport Success Questionnaire (BACSSQ; Duda & Nicholls, 1992). This scale was used to measure beliefs which domestic cricketers have about their causes of success in cricket. This was used as a control measure for the study. This scale has total 14 items. It has 3 subscales: Deception (6 items), Effort (5 items) and Ability (3 items). Participants respond on a 5-point Likert Scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 2 (strongly agree). In this present research, Urdu version of this tool was used, and it was translated by present researchers with the permission of original author. Cronbach’s alpha of Urdu translated version was .63 for Deception, .71 for Effort, and .50 for Ability subscale.

Multidimensional Inventory of Perfectionism in Sport (MIPS; Stober et al., 2006). This scale was used to measure perfectionism in domestic cricketers as a controlling variable. It has total 10 items which measure perfectionism of the participants. Participants respond to 6-point Likert Scale ranging from 1 (never) to 6 (always). In this present research, Urdu version of this tool was used which was translated by present researchers with the permission of original author. Cronbach’s alpha of Urdu translated version was .66 for the scale.

Demographic Sheet. Demographic sheet was used to gather general information of the players of domestic cricket. The questions were included such as age, education, family members, level of playing cricket, duration from which they had been in cricket, relationship with coach, attitude of coach, training hours, and training environment were included in demographic sheet.

PROCEDURE

The permission to conduct this research was taken from the Department Doctoral Programme Committee of the Center for Clinical Psychology, University of the Punjab, Lahore. The permission to use original tools was taken from the authors of the tools through email. The permission to collect data form the players of domestic cricketers was taken from the respective cricket clubs and academies. The coaches of cricket clubs and academies were then requested to allow 2 or 3 players at a time to collect data so that their training session will not be disturbed. Then, the researcher told the participants about the purpose of the research and their consent was taken by getting the consent form signed by them. They were also told about the confidentiality of the information they will provide. The first author of this research himself remained present at the time of administration to resolve all the queries of the participants and could guide and explain them if they had any problem. After the data collection from each participant, they were thanked for their participation in the research. Total 120 participants were approached but 15 forms were discarded due to incomplete information. The data collection was completed in almost 2 months.

RESULTS

Data analysis was done on the Statistical Package for Social Sciences-version 21 (SPSS-21). Firstly, psychometric properties of the measures used in the study were computed. Secondly, Pearson product moment correlation was run to see the relationship between goal orientation, motivation, and competitive anxiety. And finally, regression analysis was employed to test the hypothesis that goal orientation and motivation are likely to predict competitive anxiety.

Table 2:	Psychometric Properties of Questionnaires in the Present Study
Note. TEOSQ = Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire; SMS = Sport Motivation Scale; SAS = Sport Anxiety Scale; BACSSQ = Beliefs About the Causes of Sport Success Questionnaire; MIPS = Multidimensional Inventory of Perfectionism in Sport

Table 2 shows mean values and reliability coefficients for the measures used in the study and their subscales. Findings show satisfactory alpha values for both scales of TEOSQ. For SMS, all values are in acceptable range except for ‘Integrated Regulation’ subscale. Similarly, for SAS, the reliability for the subscale ‘Concentration Disruption’ is low while for BACSSQ, the values are low for the subscale ‘Ability’. For MIPS, the reliability value is in acceptable range.

Table 3:	Correlation Matrix for the Scales and Subscales Used in the Study (N = 105)
Note. TEOSQ = Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire; SMS = Sport Motivation Scale; SAS = Sport Anxiety Scale; BACSSQ = Beliefs About the Causes of Sport Success Questionnaire; MIPS = Multidimensional Inventory of Perfectionism in Sport *p < .05. **p < .01

Table 3 shows result of Pearson Moment Correlation between study variables. Table indicates that ego orientation and task orientation have no correlation with anxiety on BACSSQ and its subscales. Ego orientation has significant positive correlation with deception, effort, and ability; and with perfectionism.

Task orientation has significant positive correlation with intrinsic regulation, integrated regulation, identified regulation and introjected regulation whereas it has no correlation with external regulation and non-regulation. Task orientation also has significant positive correlation with effort and ability; and with perfectionism. Task orientation has no correlation with deception.

Non-regulation had significant positive correlation with anxiety, somatic anxiety, worry, and concentration disruption. Intrinsic regulation had significant negative correlation with anxiety, somatic anxiety and worry. Anxiety has no correlation with perfectionism.

Table 4:	Hierarchical Multiple Regression Predicting Competitive Anxiety in Cricketers From Perfectionism, Beliefs About the Causes of Sports Success, Goal Orientation, and Motivation Subscales (N = 105)
Note. CI = confidence interval; LL = lower limit; UL = upper limit *p < .05

The results in Table 4 show that intrinsic regulation is a significant predictor of competitive anxiety after controlling variables of perfectionism and beliefs about the causes of sports success and its subtypes. The final regression equation accounts for 24% variance in competitive anxiety. In model one, perfectionism and beliefs about the causes of sports success such as deception, effort, and ability are included. Perfectionism positively nonsignificantly predicted total competitive anxiety by accounting 15% variance. ‘Deception’ in model one, positively predicts competitive anxiety by accounting 23% variance. Whereas, ‘effort’ positively predicted competitive anxiety by accounting for 26% variance. ‘Ability’ in model one is a nonsignificant predictor of competitive anxiety by accounting 6% variance. In model two, goal orientation, motivation, and their subtypes were included. Ego orientation, integrated regulation, identified regulation, and external regulation account for 17%, 3%, 5% and 5% variance, respectively and are negative predictors for competitive anxiety. In model two, task orientation, introjected regulation and non-regulation account for 9%, 9%, and 21% variance respectively and are nonsignificant predictors for competitive anxiety. Whereas, intrinsic regulation accounts for 30% variance in competitive anxiety and is negatively predicted competitive anxiety. Both models are found to be significant and the Durbin Watson value was 2.29.

DISCUSSION

The present study was conducted to explore the relationship between goal orientation, motivation, and competitive anxiety in players of domestic cricket. In the present study, a significant positive relationship between ego orientation and competitive anxiety and a significant negative relationship between task orientation and competitive anxiety was hypothesized. The results obtained for the present study does not seem to support this hypothesis and this can be related with the study conducted by Eisenbarth and Petlichkoff (2012) in which nonsignificant relationship was found between both dimensions of goal orientation and competitive anxiety. When athletes perceive their capabilities as good enough to meet the requirements of the situation then ego orientation have a little relationship with competitive anxiety. As much as ego-oriented athletes have higher perceptions about their abilities then there are less chances of competitive anxiety to occur. The athletes perceive themselves to be good enough to meet all the challenges and requirements, so they do not experience competitive anxiety, but they tend to view sports as a good opportunity to show their abilities (Abrahamsen, Roberts, Pensgaard, & Ronglan, 2008).

Athletes with high ego orientation and having high perceptions about their abilities do not experience competitive anxiety as compared to those with lower perception about their abilities. Because they doubt their abilities, and as a result they experience competitive anxiety. Significant relationship between ego orientation and competitive anxiety was found only when self-confidence was low (Voight, Callaghan, & Ryska, 2000).

In the present study, a significant positive relationship between ego orientation and deception and ability was obtained. The results are consistent with the previous researches. Sports participants higher in ego orientation believe that deceiving and cheating in sports will lead them to success in their sports such as taking an illegal advantage for example blood doping. Athletes high in ego orientation believe that ability and maintaining a positive impression are the primary causes of success (Newton & Duda, 1993). In the present study, a significant positive relationship between task orientation and effort was obtained. This result is in accordance with the previous researches. Athletes who are high in task orientation generally have believes that success in sports is a result of hardworking and practice (Duda & White, 1992).

In the present study it was hypothesized that there is likely to be a positive relationship between task orientation and intrinsic regulation. This hypothesis was supported by the results of the present study. Athletes having higher levels of task orientation tends to be more intrinsically motivated and they choose tasks which are more testing or difficult (Duda, 1989). It was also hypothesized that there is likely to be a positive relationship between ego orientation and external regulation. This hypothesis was supported by the results of the present study. Athletes having higher levels of ego orientation are more externally motivated, show negative patterns of behaviors and have lower level of interests (Duda, 1989).

It was hypothesized that there is likely to be a negative relationship between intrinsic regulation and competitive anxiety. This hypothesis was supported by the results of the present study. Findings are in line with previous researches which found that athletes having lower or moderate level of motivation have higher level of competitive anxiety (Schaefer et al., 2016).

In the present study, a nonsignificant relationship between competitive anxiety and perfectionism was obtained. In previous research, competitive anxiety was positively correlated with specific dimensions of perfectionism, dimension which are in abundant in individuals having certain strategies of self-esteem. Individuals having high levels of self-esteem had more constructive and positive dimensions of perfectionism as compare to those individuals having self-esteem which is based on competence, have more destructive and negative patterns of perfectionism (Koivula, Hassmen, & Fallby, 2002). As the present study did not focus on the dimensions of perfectionism separately, it might be a reason for these nonsignificant findings.

It was also observed that participants of the present study were also pursuing their studies along with playing cricket. Therefore, they might not have fully focused Cricket but also on their studies as they may have other goals as well. As seemed by their views and thoughts, majority of them were not going to choose cricket as their profession in future because most of them were not able to afford the expenses of cricket because they have to buy their own cricket kit bag and others things related to cricket as well. Also, previous researches were done mostly in other countries but not in Pakistan, so there may be a cultural factor which can be included. This can be related with some indigenous researches in Pakistan. A negative but nonsignificant correlation was found between competitive anxiety and performance in players of domestic and international players in Pakistan (Fayyaz et al., 2018).

It was also hypothesized that goal orientation and motivation is likely to be a predictor of competitive anxiety. This hypothesis was supported by the results of the present study. In the present study intrinsic regulation negatively predicted competitive anxiety but goal orientation did not predict competitive anxiety. It can be related with the previous researches. Individuals having lower levels of motivation have higher levels of competitive anxiety (Schaefer et al., 2016).

LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

The sample included only players of domestic cricket, so the results cannot be generalized on other cricketers and sports such as international cricketers and other sports like football, hockey etc. Hence, a more diverse sample including international cricketers and other sports like football, hockey is required to generalize the results on all sports and other athletes as well.

CONCLUSION

The present study intended to find the relationship between goal orientation, motivation, and competitive anxiety in players of domestic cricket in Pakistan after controlling perfectionism and beliefs about success. In this study it was seen that goal orientation is very much important in the life of an athlete as it can affect the motivation and anxiety levels of athlete. So, this study will help sports authorities to provide counselling to those domestic cricketers who have beliefs like deception and cheating will lead them to success in sports instead of putting effort and hard work.

Domestic cricket is very much important because it is a basic level from which players go to international level to represent Pakistan Team at international level, so counselling of these domestic cricketers is very much important. And this study will help sport authorities to provide counselling to domestic cricketers.

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