Background. While more and more sport organizations broadly acknowledge their ability at delivering social values, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is rapidly growing at a significant rate across the professional sport industry and its related organizations. Despite the growing body of research in this area, measuring CSR is still problematic. Objectives. Therefore, the aim of this study is to provide an efficient, valid, and reliable measure of CSR reflecting the responsibilities of sport industry. Methods. Based on a proposed conceptual framework of CSR, a scale was developed via a standard procedure for developing instrument measures. In this study, to determine and assess the underlying factorial structure, convergent and discriminate validity of measurement scale, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was performed. Data was collected from 640 sport fans in Iran's Football Premier League. Results. The results of the analysis provided a five-dimensional structure of CSR in sport, such as economic, philanthropic, ethical, legal, and environmental issues. These dimensions explained 50.827% of the total variance. In addition, the KMO measure was computed and the results indicated an index of 0.927. Moreover, the values of Cronbach's alpha obtained for five factors ranged from 0.848 to 0.967. The results show the reliability and validity of this new scale in sport industry. Conclusion. This study implies that from a consumer's perspective, CSR is perceived as a set of attributes; therefore, it is important for a professional sports team's management to understand fans' interest in social issues and fans' responses to various CSR programs.

As sport has become an integral part of society, it has also become a tool for diplomacy around the world. The purpose of this study is to introduce a sports diplomacy model and identify “the critical abilities” for converting sport soft power tools into resources for diplomatic outcomes. The data for this research comprise 30 online surveys completed by international experts in the fields of sports and public diplomacy. The responses were qualitatively analyzed using the fuzzy Delphi method (FDM). After running two rounds of fuzzy Delphi, two main strategies for sports diplomacy emerged—maintaining “official and sports diplomacy solidarity” and using sport figures as “competent cultural ambassadors.” The proposed model includes the most applicable sports diplomacy resources, the most expected diplomatic outcomes, and the major conversion tools (skillful strategies) in the viewpoint of sports and public diplomacy experts. The application of the model finds that states can expect diplomatic outcomes if appropriate sports diplomacy resources and conversion strategies are implemented in an orderly, innovative and accurate manner.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of brand identity and character on brand loyalty between Esteghlal and Persepolis team fans in Mazandaran province. This study was carried out using a descriptive correlation approach. The participants of this study consisted of 385 fans in a randomised cluster, at three geographical areas namely; west, central and east provinces. The participants answered questioners on brand identity and also a customer loyalty questionnaire. To perform descriptive statistics, the software package of spss21 was utilised and in order to perform confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling (SEM) Amos21 was utilised. The results showed that brand personality with impact factor of 0.56 (t = 4.76) has greater relations with brand loyalty, than brand identity by the impact factor of 0.28 (t = 2.28), in the view point of fans.

Background. To effectively response to environmental changes and gain a competitive advantage, sports manufacturing companies should invest in human capital. Objectives. The study aimed at examining the effects of human capital on technological innovation capabilities in Iranian sports manufacturing companies. Methods. Conducted applied research and the survey. Data were collected using standard questionnaires in human capital and technological innovation capabilities. The reliability of the questionnaires was 0.81 and 0.85, respectively. The study was conducted on 546 employees from 77 sports manufacturing companies. To evaluate the research hypotheses, structural equation modeling based on partial least-squares method was used. Results. The study results indicated a significant impact of brand associations on brand equity and brand citizenship behavior; human capital also had a significant impact on technological innovation capabilities. According to ranking results, the three main features of the human capital of sports manufacturing companies respectively were skills and expertise, knowledge, and experience. Conclusion. The main factors can significantly affect the development of human capital and technological innovation capabilities in Iranian sports manufacturing companies.

Today, the value of organizations depends on their intangible assets. The purpose of this study is to identification of effective indicators in the economic valuation model for intangible assets of Iranian FUTSAL Premier League clubs with future research approach. Research from the perspective of applied purpose and in terms of how to collect data of descriptive-survey type and in terms of the nature of data, is mixed (qualitative-quantitative) with the future research approach. The statistical population of the study included academic faculties of sport management and economics, coaches and official instructors of the Federation, as well as managers of FUTSAL clubs. Using a snowball sampling method and semi-structured interviews with 29 statistical samples, intangible assets of the FUTSAL Premier League club were identified. After reaching the theoretical saturation and coding, finally the important effective indicators were identified and extracted. After developing a questionnaire and content validation by the researcher distributed a Delphi questionnaire to instructors, coaches, and managers of FUTSAL Premier League clubs and expert faculty in FUTSAL. From the results of three Delphi rounds, 44 key indicators with 5 effective factors were extracted. The results showed that the factors of structural wealth, commercial wealth and public relations, spiritual and value wealth, human and situational wealth and communication wealth are influential in the economic valuation of intangible assets of FUTSAL clubs. Then, using Mic Mac software, diagrams, maps and analysis of identified factors were drawn, and finally 25 key indicators affecting the economic valuation of intangible assets of FUTSAL Premier League clubs were identified. Identifying these factors can be effective and fruitive in attracting more financial sponsors and the desire to invest in FUTSAL clubs.

Background. Sport spectators are an essential part of the professional sport landscape. Spectators are important economically, because they generate revenue through ticket and concession sales, and provide ambience for broadcast televisions. Problematically, spectators' attendance is declining in many professional leagues throughout the world. Objectives. The current study aimed at identifying factors affecting spectators' attendance in the Iranian Football League. Methods. Initial data were collected using semi-structured interviews with 20 participants, with expertise in the Iranian Football League. Using Q Methodology, 50 Q-expressions were sorted by the participants. Then, Q-factor analysis was performed. Results. The study identified seven broad factors: 1) Lack of desirable access and transportation services to/from the stadiums; 2) Defective implementation of strategic plans in federations and clubs; 3) The impact of low-quality plays and the superiority of TV services to stadium ones; 4) Inappropriate services in stadiums; 5) Inappropriate stadium atmosphere; 6) Economic problems of spectators; and, 7) Paying more attention to margins by media from the viewpoint of critics. Conclusions. Football officials can increase the number of spectators in stadiums by systematically removing these damages from the Iranian football body, which may solve many other problems as well.