چکیده:
Background. Today, all the fields, including science, business, industry, and sports, are influenced by the profound and sustained changes. New rules arise every day; organizations, especially sports clubs, are in an endless struggle to gain competitive advantage in the battle for survival and power stealth. The main function of competitive advantage is to guarantee the survival of organizations, so that they can succeed in their path to developments.
Objectives. This study is a field research aimed to model the competitive advantage of Iranian Soccer Clubs based on the team reputation considering the satisfaction level of fans.
Methods. The statistical population of the study included the fans of the teams of Iranian Premier League (2017-2018), among which 384 fans were selected as the sample. The measurement tool included the questionnaires of the public relations, brand image and identity, satisfaction, team reputation, and competitive advantage. Validity and reliability of the questionnaires were confirmed by experts using the Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM) and Cronbach's alpha test. The descriptive statistical tests including the central tendency, dispersion, and inferential statistics (the structural equation test) were used for data analysis. SPSS software version 19 was used for the descriptive analysis and LISREL software for the analysis of the structural equation modeling.
Results. The variables of public relations, brand identity, and brand image have a positive and significant effect on the team reputation. Also, satisfaction level of fans has a positive and significant effect on the competitive advantage of soccer clubs.
Conclusion. The findings confirmed the significance of the conceptual model of the research. However, more studies should be conducted to identify other dimensions influencing the competitive advantage of teams.
خلاصه ماشینی:
Modeling the Competitive Advantage of Iranian Soccer Clubs Based on the Team Reputation Considering the Satisfaction Level of Fans of the Selected Teams 1Mohammad Deheshti, 1Seyyed Morteza Azimzadeh*, 1Zahrasadat Mirzazadeh, 2Hossein Alimohammadi 1Department of Sport Manegement, Faculty of Physical Education &Sport Science, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran.
This study is a field research aimed to model the competitive advantage of Iranian Soccer Clubs based on the team reputation considering the satisfaction level of fans.
In this model, the components of public relations, brand identity and image, team reputation, and fans̓ satisfaction are considered as the independent variables influencing the competitive advantage of Iranian soccer clubs which are studied in this study (Figure 1).
The final questionnaires of the study included the demographic questionnaire, the team-reputation questionnaire (including the 6 dimensions of performance, governing traditions, social responsibility, fan-centeredness, management quality, and financial health with 18 items), the competitive advantage questionnaire (including the 5 dimensions of efficiency, quality, innovation, responsiveness, and support of fans with 33 items), the public relations questionnaire (including the two dimensions of media relations and social relations with 8 items), and the questionnaires of brand image (3 items), brand identity (4 items), and satisfaction (14 items).
The results of testing the hypotheses (View the image of this page) DISCUSSION The present study aimed to investigate and analyze the conceptual model of the research based on the variables of public relations, brand identity and image, team reputation, satisfaction of fans, and competitive advantage.
Witzig (2011) showed that there is a significant relationship between the social responsibility (as one of the components of reputation) of sports teams and the fans̓ satisfaction and gaining competitive advantage, and this issue should not be neglected by the managers of football clubs.