ORIGINAL PAPER Motivational clusters and performance in a real-life setting Nicolas Gillet Æ Robert J. Vallerand Æ Elisabeth Rosnet Published online: 7 January 2009 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2009 Abstract The present research investigated whether assessing adolescent elite athletes’ motivational profiles at the beginning of the season would allow us to predict their subsequent performance over the course of a competitive season. In two studies, athletes completed the French ver- sion of the Sport Motivation Scale (Brie `re et al., Int J Sport Psychol 26:465–489, 1995) at the beginning of the season. Objective levels of performance were recorded for the following season, as well as for the season prior to ques- tionnaire completion. In Study 1, the sample comprised a total of 170 French junior national tennis players (M = 13.42 years). Results revealed the presence of a four-cluster solution, reflecting different levels of autono- mous and controlled motivations. Results revealed that controlling for past performance, athletes with the least self-determined motivational profile obtained lower levels of subsequent tennis performance than those in the three other (more self-determined motivational) clusters. In Study 2, there were a total of 250 French junior national fencers aged 15 years. Results revealed a three-cluster solution very similar to that of Study 1. In addition, in line with Study 1, results revealed that the least self-determined motivational profile led to the lowest level of performance. Overall, these findings suggest that cluster analysis is useful in the understanding of the complex relationship between motivation and performance in elite sport. Keywords Motivation Á Performance Á Sport Á Cluster analysis Á Self-determination theory Introduction Motivation has been repeatedly reported as one of the most important contributors to high-level performance. For instance, in sport, athletes’ success is often explained as a function of motivation (Gould et al. 2002; Williams and Krane 2001). In that light, it is not surprising that a con- siderable amount of research in the last 20 years has focused on sport motivation (see Chatzisarantis et al. 2003; Roberts 2001; Vallerand et al. 1987). Among the different theories proposed to explain motivated behavior and out- comes in sport, self-determination theory (SDT; Deci and Ryan 2000; Ryan and Deci 2007) has been found to be especially influential. Numerous studies have supported postulates from this theory in the sport setting (see Hagger and Chatzisarantis 2007; Vallerand 2007a). Among the numerous postulates of the theory, SDT posits the existence of three major types of motivational constructs, namely intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motiva- tion, and amotivation. Intrinsic motivation refers to engaging in activities for themselves, out of pleasure, fun, and enjoyment. On the other hand, extrinsic motivation refers to engaging in activities for outcomes that are separate from the activity. Four forms of extrinsic motivation have been proposed. First, external regulation involves engaging in an activity to obtain rewards or avoid punishment. Sec- ond, introjected regulation refers to behaviors performed to avoid guilt and internal pressure and entails the N. Gillet (&) Á E. Rosnet Laboratoire de Psychologie Applique ´e, Universite ´ de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, 57, rue Pierre Taittinger, 51096 Reims Cedex, France e-mail: nicolas.gillet@univ-reims.fr R. J. Vallerand De ´partement de psychologie, Laboratoire de Recherche sur le Comportement Social, Universite ´ du Que ´bec a ` Montre ´al, Montreal, QC, Canada 123 Motiv Emot (2009) 33:49–62 DOI 10.1007/s11031-008-9115-z