Sports Federations

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of creativity on performance with the mediating role of knowledge sharing in sports federations. Method: This field study was a descriptive-correlative research and a practical one. The research population consisted of all presidents, vice presidents, general secretaries, committee managers and experts in 51 sport federations (N=780), and 267 subjects were studied through stratified random sampling approach that was consistent to recommended sample by Krejcie & Morgan table. The research tools were adopted from the existing literature to collect the data. The reliability of the research tools were confirmed according to Cronbach’s alpha. Face, content, and construct validity were used to evaluate the validity of the research tools. To test the research hypotheses, structural equation modeling was conducted by applying Smart PLS. Results: The findings demonstrated that "Creativity" had a positive and significant effect on "Performance", as well as "Knowledge sharing". Moreover, "Knowledge sharing "had a positive and significant effect on "Performance". The results also showed that "Knowledge sharing" mediate the relationship between "Creativity", and "Performance "in sport federations. Conclusions: The findings of this study, with emphasis on the role of creativity and knowledge sharing in improving the performance, can be regarded as a platform for enhancing the performance of sports federations. Creativity and knowledge sharing can play a significant role in empowering the human capital that ultimately result in performance development.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of strategic thinking skills on the effectiveness of strategy creation process of team sport federations in Iran. 57 questionnaires distributed among the managers of team sport federations to collect the required data. Strategic thinking skills questionnaire and effectiveness of strategy creation process questionnaire adapted from Moghimi and Ramezan questionnaire (2015). Structural equation modeling with partial least squares (PLS) approach was employed for data analysis. The results indicated that strategic thinking skills of managers had a significant effect on the effectiveness of strategy creation process in team sport federations. According to the findings, improving the strategic thinking skills of managers in sport federations, is critical in the process of creating effective strategies.

Today, sports diplomacy with different countries is one way to develop the sport at an international level. The current paper was conducted with the approach of improving the diplomacy of sports federations of Iran and Arab states of the Persian Gulf. The paper is qualitative, applied, and was carried out using Colaizzi's phenomenological methodology in 2022. Moreover, Participants in the research included individuals related to the subject. Furthermore, the sampling method was purposeful, and until the extraction of completely non-repeated strategies from the interviews; 21 interviews were conducted in a semi-structured manner. Factors affecting the improvement of the diplomacy of the sports federations of Iran and Arab states of the Persian Gulf consist of 75 primary strategies in the form of 11 main categories including: media content, behavioral norms, infrastructure development, management strategy, political dimensions, security dimensions, sports interactions, international solidarity, sports communication, national prestige, and educational experiences. Some of the solutions identified include benefitting from popular social networks such as Instagram to share common content with Arabic language sports pages, no provocative interviews by athletes and coaches, preventing spectators from chanting racist slogans, facilitating the entry conditions of Arab spectators in international sports competitions in Iran and mutual support of the sports federations in Iran and Arab states of the Persian Gulf to the sports representatives of the Middle East region in sports events at the world level.

The aim of this quantitative research was to examine and compare the retirement experiences of retired athletes from selected sports federations in Iran and Iraq. Using the snowball sampling method, 188 retired professional athletes (103 from Iran and 85 from Iraq) were selected from team sports and individual sports. The research data were collected using the Sport Career Termination Questionnaire. Data analysis was conducted using parametric and non-parametric statistical methods. The results indicated significant difference between the sport career length of the athletes of both groups; there was a significant difference between the sport career termination reasons of two groups; there was a significant difference between the retirement problems in two groups; there was a significant difference between the two groups in the amount of support received by the athletes during the retirement period, and significant difference existed between the level of retirement satisfaction in the two groups. It is recommended that sports authorities in Iran and Iraq pay more attention to retired athletes, strive to address the issues and challenges of their retirement course, and provide programs aimed at developing skills and job competencies for retired athletes. In particular, it is recommended that Iraqi sports authorities maximize the utilization of retired athletes within the country’s sports structure and implement effective programs for the prevention and treatment of sports injuries among athletes. Future researchers are encouraged to employ both longitudinal and qualitative research methods to gain a better and richer understanding of sports retirement.