The differential interaction effect of mastery and performance climate on athletes’ emotional and physical exhaustion: The role of athletes’ gratitude

Motivational climate (i.e., mastery and performance climate) has been found to shape athletes’ emotional and physical exhaustion, the core dimension of burnout. However, the interactional effect between mastery and performance climate on emotional and physical exhaustion has been rarely examined. In this study, we proposed that athletes’ gratitude will determine the interaction effect of mastery climate and performance climate on emotional and physical exhaustion. Specifically, we hypothesized that among athletes high in gratitude, mastery climate can mitigate the association between performance climate and emotional and physical exhaustion; among those low in gratitude, mastery climate can intensify the association between performance climate and emotional and physical exhaustion. Using a time-lagged survey, data from 293 athletes revealed a three-way interaction effect among mastery climate, performance climate, and gratitude. We did not find that mastery climate can mitigate the association between performance climate and emotional and physical exhaustion for those high in gratitude but found that among athletes low in gratitude, the positive association between performance climate and emotional and physical exhaustion was stronger in a higher mastery climate than in a lower mastery climate. Our study offers an interactionist perspective to help further understand the joint effect of mastery and performance climates on emotional and physical exhaustion by taking the role of individual differences into account.