Sport Economics, Marketing and Tourism
Mehdi Salimi; Amir Hossein Labbaf
Abstract
Objective: The present study aimed to propose a comprehensive model of identity marketing in professional sports.Methodology: A mixed-methods design (qualitative–quantitative) was employed. In the qualitative phase, based on grounded theory (Glaser’s approach), data were collected through ...
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Objective: The present study aimed to propose a comprehensive model of identity marketing in professional sports.Methodology: A mixed-methods design (qualitative–quantitative) was employed. In the qualitative phase, based on grounded theory (Glaser’s approach), data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 17 university professors, experts, and sports marketing managers selected via theoretical sampling, and analyzed through open and selective coding. In the quantitative phase, the resulting model was validated and prioritized using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and a researcher-made pairwise comparison questionnaire, with the participation of 12 experts in sports marketing selected through purposive and criterion-based sampling.Results: The qualitative findings led to the identification of 84 final concepts organized into several theoretical categories that explained the key dimensions of identity marketing from the participants’ perspectives. These categories included audience-brand identity formation, brand–audience interaction in the digital context, brand identity construction, and contextual enablers of identity marketing. The quantitative analyses confirmed and prioritized these categories in the final model, with audience-brand identity formation identified as the most significant factor in identity marketing in professional sports.Conclusion: The proposed model demonstrates that identity marketing in professional sports goes beyond traditional approaches and requires a deep understanding of the psychological, social, and symbolic connections between the brand and its audience. Focusing on strengthening audience identity, increasing digital engagement, and constructing a strong and coherent brand identity can lead to sustainable audience connections, greater loyalty, and active participation.
Mehdi Salimi; Amir Hossein Labbaf
Abstract
Objective: The present study aimed to design a development model for green management in sports venues and facilities based on grounded theory.Methodology: The research was conducted using the grounded theory method. The research population included university faculty members in the fields of sports ...
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Objective: The present study aimed to design a development model for green management in sports venues and facilities based on grounded theory.Methodology: The research was conducted using the grounded theory method. The research population included university faculty members in the fields of sports management and environmental studies, as well as senior managers of sports venues and facilities. The sampling, consisting of 15 individuals, was selected purposefully using the snowball sampling method based on the principle of theoretical saturation. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. To assess validity, four criteria were used: credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability. To assess reliability, inter-subject agreement was employed, which was 0.91.Results: The findings indicated that attention to causal conditions, context, intervening conditions, phenomena, and strategies presented in the research model leads to significant outcomes such as cultural improvement, increased international credibility, financial improvement, infrastructure enhancement, social status improvement, and the preservation of natural resources.Conclusion: It is recommended that the results and the model presented in the present study, which include causal conditions, context, intervening conditions, phenomena, and strategies, be used for the development of green management in sports venues and facilities across various sectors, including the formulation of laws and regulations and the management of relevant human resources.
Sport Management and Development
Fahimeh Gharbi; Jafar Bargimoghaddam; Hamid Janani; Habib Mohammadpour Yaghini
Abstract
Objective: The aim of the present study was to explain the factors affecting the presence of donors in the development of sports venues and facilities.Methodology: The research method was a qualitative type of conventional content analysis, in which 16 specialists in the field of sports management, donors ...
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Objective: The aim of the present study was to explain the factors affecting the presence of donors in the development of sports venues and facilities.Methodology: The research method was a qualitative type of conventional content analysis, in which 16 specialists in the field of sports management, donors in the field of sports, and managers of the Ministry of Sports and General Departments of Sports and Youth were selected based on purposive sampling criteria, and interviews were conducted in a semi-structured in-depth manner.Results: After reviewing the interviews and analyzing them, 28 categories were coded, which were named in the axial coding process in the form of 7 major categories or themes: 1- Media capacity 2- Culture governing the society 3- Social background and context of donors 4- Attitudes, interests, and personal beliefs of donors 5- Patronizing policies 6- Culture-building in attracting donors 7- Achievements of endowments in the field of sports. In general, the formation of sports support and charity associations, the activation of provincial committees to attract the participation of sports-supporting donors, the creation of sports support and charity campaigns, the creation of sports support and charity funds, the creation of a sports support museum, and the formation of a board of trustees of sports support foundations were identified as factors for attracting donors.Conclusion: To this end, management strategies such as smoothing the existing obstacles in supporting sports through inter-organizational follow-up and coordination are among the essential measures. In addition to obvious achievements for cultural and social stakeholders, attracting and supporting donors in sports can be a breakthrough in many hidden corners of national and transnational arenas and provide the basis for the prosperity of society.
Alireza Elahi; Yaghoub Mohamadi; Mahdie Zachegani; Hoda Khosravi
Abstract
Purpose: This paper aims at investigating the content of qualitative-based research on sport management published in scientific research journals indexed in the Islamic World Citation Database.Methodology: 166 qualitative articles published in scientific research journals approved by the Ministry of ...
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Purpose: This paper aims at investigating the content of qualitative-based research on sport management published in scientific research journals indexed in the Islamic World Citation Database.Methodology: 166 qualitative articles published in scientific research journals approved by the Ministry of Science during the years 1390 to 1399 were analyzed. We use a coding checklist whose validity is confirmed by sports management experts. Also, the reliability of the checklist was obtained using the agreement coefficient between the coders of 88.50%.Finding: findings of this work demonstrate that majority of the articles employ the grounded theory(66/8%). furthermore, semi-structured interviews(56/6%) appear to be the most popular data collection method., purposive sampling(29/5%) open, axial, and selective coding(82/5%) seem to be the most popular ones. Also, in many of articles(41%), no data triangulation is reported. In addition, only in ten percent of cases, present suggestions and recommendation for future researchers.Conclusion: In recent years, an increasing trend for qualitative-based research in the sport management literature has been observed. Therefore, by highlighting the weaknesses and limitations of qualitative studies, solutions to improve future studies have been proposed.
