Sport Governance and Policy-Making
Fatemeh Hadipoor; Shahram Shafiee; Hossein Brakhas
Abstract
Objective: The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of the political and economic consequences of women's presence in stadiums on the credibility of Iranian football with the mediating role of media flow and sports cultural diplomacy.Methodology: This research was descriptive-correlational ...
Read More
Objective: The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of the political and economic consequences of women's presence in stadiums on the credibility of Iranian football with the mediating role of media flow and sports cultural diplomacy.Methodology: This research was descriptive-correlational in nature, applied in purpose, and conducted through a field study approach. The statistical population consisted of sports managers and experts, coaches, referees, athletes, and university faculty members. A sufficient sample size for modeling was selected non-randomly and conveniently and analyzed (101 individuals). The measurement tools included a questionnaire on political consequences (10 items), economic consequences (7 items), media flow (6 items), sports cultural diplomacy (6 items), and football credibility (14 items), based on a five-point Likert scale. The content and face validity of these tools were confirmed by experts in the fields of football, women's sports, and sports management professors (11 individuals), and composite reliability, construct validity, convergent validity, and divergent validity were established using factor analysis. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS and SmartPLS 3 software.Results: The results indicated that the political and economic consequences of women's presence significantly affected media flow, sports cultural diplomacy, and the credibility of Iranian football. Media flow and sports cultural diplomacy had a significant effect on the credibility of Iranian football. Additionally, the Sobel test results demonstrated that the political and economic consequences significantly influenced the credibility of Iranian football through the mediating roles of media flow and sports cultural diplomacy.Conclusion: Based on the findings, it can be concluded that the credibility of Iranian football stems not only from sports performance but also from its ability to intelligently manage the social, political, and economic dimensions of women's presence, leverage media power, and employ active diplomacy. These synergistic factors contribute to consolidating and enhancing the position of this sport both nationally and globally.
