Ajowi, Carolyne Achieng’2016-10-112016-10-112016http://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/15109A research thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of degree of masters of science (recreation and leisure management) school of applied human sciences, Kenyatta University, June 2016. GV 940 .A25This study set to investigate the participation motives and competitive orientations of women football players in the Kenyan premier league. The major objectives of the study were to examine what motivates them to participate in football, what goals they seek to achieve in playing football and how selected demographic factors of age, educational level and years of experience influence their participation motives and competitive orientation. The study also examined the relationship between participation motives and competitive orientations in sports. Data was collected using the instruments; Participation Motivation Questionnaire (PMQ) to assess their motives for participation and the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire (TEOSQ) to assess their competitive orientations. Out of a target population of 360 players in the league, simple random sampling procedure was used to select women football players N=192 from the 12 clubs to participate in the survey. Data was coded using SPSS version 20. Shapiro-Wilk's and Levenes’ tests were used to test normality of data and Homogeneity of Variances respectively. KMO and Bartlett’s tests were used to assess whether it is appropriate to run a principal component analysis. A principal component analysis was performed on the PMQ and TEOSQ items. One way ANOVA was used to determine whether competitive orientations and participation motivation of players differ based on age, playing experience and educational level. Tukey Post hoc test was used to test any significant differences after significant F-ratios. Pearson-product moment correlation coefficient was conducted to examine relationships among competitive orientations and participation motivation of the players. All hypotheses were tested at 0.05 significance level. Results revealed that the top participation motives ranked in order were: skill/team; fitness/win; friendship/affiliation; status/achievement and energy release. For competitive orientations, result revealed that players were more task oriented than ego- oriented. There were significant differences in participation motives based on playing experience and educational level; however, there were no age-based differences among women the players’ participation. On competitive orientation, the study found no significant differences in age and playing experience, however, there was a significant difference in educational level. Pearson product moment correlation analysis showed a relationship between task orientation and intrinsic sources of motivation (skill development/team), whereas ego orientation was found to relate well with more extrinsic forms of motivation (status/recognition). Overall, results of this study indicate that women football players in the Kenyan premier league venThesis