مهدی کهندل

Effective strategic leadership entails the implementation of diverse management strategies to develop a forward-looking perspective for the organization. Such a perspective enables the organization to adjust and remain competitive in a continuously changing economic and technological environment. This study aimed to design a strategic leadership model for sports federations in Iran. This study was applied in terms of purpose and adopted a mixed method with an exploratory approach. The statistical population of the qualitative study consisted of experts in the field of sports federations who were selected purposefully, and finally,  14 experts were selected as the research participants based on data saturation approach. The statistical population in the quantitative phase included 319 subjects (president, vice-president, secretary, and three members of the Board of Directors of sports federations) selected through stratified random sampling. The research data collection tool in the qualitative phase was a semi-structured interview whereas, in the quantitative section, a researcher-made questionnaire was developed from interviews' data. Data in the qualitative phase were analyzed using experts’ points of view, and in the quantitative phase, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, divergent and convergent validity, and structural equation tests were used. Moreover, the face, content, and construct validity of the instrument were confirmed. Finally, the model of strategic leadership of sport federations was presented with seven factors including strategic orientation, human resources development, learning strategy, team leadership, strategic control, effective interaction culture, and ethical strategy.