Nots Editor's
Volume 5, Issue 1 , May 2024
Sports management, marketing
Sara Keshkar; Gholamali Kargar; Mahya Shabani
Abstract
The utilization of various strategy formulation models in different industrial sectors has become a common practice. The aim of this research was to determine a strategy for the market development of the sports jewelry industry in Iran using the analytical SWOC approach. On the other hand, sports, as ...
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The utilization of various strategy formulation models in different industrial sectors has become a common practice. The aim of this research was to determine a strategy for the market development of the sports jewelry industry in Iran using the analytical SWOC approach. On the other hand, sports, as an effective factor in social, economic, cultural development and direct and indirect effects, play an important role in the economy of countries. In recent years, sports as an economic sector, both practical and spectacular, play an essential role in the production and consumption of sports goods and services and the economic development of different societies. Therefore, considering the place of sports and art among people, we realize that handicrafts and industrial arts, especially ornaments, have attracted many fans since the beginning of history (Chavosh bashi, et al., 2012). Therefore, to expand this category and promote it by using sports marketing, which is one of the sub-branches of marketing, in which sports teams and events are promoted. Today, suppliers in the market of industrial and consumer goods are faced with customers who have unlimited demands but are less influenced by traditional marketing tools (Nayeb zade, 2005). The current study was practical in terms of its objective and descriptive-analytical in terms of its strategy. Qualitative content analysis was conducted using the method of nominal interviews to collect data. The concepts and codes obtained were classified into four categories. A total of 15 theoretical saturation interviews were conducted. The research population consisted of sports management specialists, experts in the gold industry, gold jewelry manufacturers, gold jewelry retailers, and marketing academics with relevant studies in sports, and sports figures. The results of this research, based on the analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges in this industry, indicated that the sports jewelry industry is in a position of aggression (SO). In addition to these, the findings of the qualitative section in the strengths of the sports jewelry industry include aesthetics, which has a very broad philosophy from an artistic point of view, when a person encounters something beautiful, both artistic and natural beauty, he can understand the type of aesthetic quality. The most important strategies for the development of the sports jewelry industry, four strategies were introduced and prioritized using the QSPM quantitative planning matrix, the strategy of using culture and climate diversity with an emphasis on holding an exhibition with the aim of introducing and marketing was the most prioritized strategy. It is obvious that the topic marketing and strengthening experts and professional marketers in this field will have a significant impact on introducing and developing this industry in society. On the other hand, the culture and civilization of any country is at the same time as the history of that country. Accurate and appropriate planning for the use of energy reserves and resources will pave the way for the participation of experts in this industry and the use of the capacities of these people, and on the other hand, in order to help the development of the sports jewelry industry and with the knowledge of the elements of creativity and innovation. And the motivation in the youth, the use of the young and educated class leads to the development and provision of better services in this field. Therefore, strategies used in this industry include utilizing reserves and energy resources for planned exports, employing young educated workforce for better services, capacity development and collaboration among specialists, and leveraging cultural and climatic diversity with an emphasis on organizing exhibitions for introduction and marketing purposes. Considering the findings and results, it can be acknowledged that the sports jewelry industry, relying on aggressive position strategies, will be able to achieve its goals.
Sports management, marketing
Falah Hasan Safih; Mohsen Behnam; Roghayeh sarlab
Abstract
Co-innovation is an important concept for organizations because it allows them to collaborate with external partners to create new products and services (Saragih & Tan, 2018). Creativity and innovation are critical for the successful performance of any organization, and co-innovation can help organizations ...
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Co-innovation is an important concept for organizations because it allows them to collaborate with external partners to create new products and services (Saragih & Tan, 2018). Creativity and innovation are critical for the successful performance of any organization, and co-innovation can help organizations achieve these goals (Laud et al., 2023). Co-innovation is a tool in which new ideas and approaches from various internal and external sources are applied differently to create new value or experience for all stakeholders, including consumers (Lee et al., 2012). Co-innovation is essential to study in sport services because it helps to understand how human resource management practices affect innovation activities and performance in sport service firms (Papaioanno et al. 2024). The study of co-innovation also examines the role of user-based approaches in creating service innovations in the public sector, which is very important to renew public services and respond to growing needs and challenges ahead (Kallio et al., 2013). Co-innovation allows sport organizations to collaborate with external partners, such as customers, to create new products and services (Næss & Tjønndal, 2013). This collaboration can lead to new and innovative ideas that would not have been possible without the participation of foreign partners. Through the study of co-innovation in sports services, researchers can suggest future research directions and management implications in relation to bridging the gap between sports studies and innovation (Ratten, 2016). In general, co-innovation studies in sport services contribute to understanding the management and performance of innovation in the sport industry (Potts & Ratten, 2016). Co-innovation has been studied from different angles that focus on collaboration, coordination, co-creation, co-integration and co-complementarity (Saragih & Tan, 2018). Co-innovation outputs include new business models, customer base, value, value chain, new products and services (Saragih & Tan, 2018). Co-innovation requires new roles for researchers and the activation of new settings (Botha et al., 2017). Some studies focused on co-innovation process. & Russo Spena Mele (2011) identified co-innovation as a series of "co" concepts: co-generation of ideas, co-evaluation of ideas, co-design and co-launch. They identified practices in each "co" including actors, actions, tools, and images. Other studies addressed the outcomes and benefits of co-innovation. & Abreu Urze (2016) introduced an approach to understand the ability of co-innovation networks to produce innovation in processes and products. & Nguyen Adomako (2023) investigated the relationship between co-innovation behavior and sustainable innovation, also controlling for the influence of drivers such as absorptive capacity and competitive intensity. In addition, the process of co-innovation has been studied and verified in various industries such as the music industry, which usually includes steps such as co-discovery, co-creation, co-delivery and co-capture (Saragih et al., 2021). However, research on the predictors of co-innovation is very limited. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct research related to the concepts that can be effective on co-innovation. Therefore, the main goal of this research is to fill this scientific gap. The aim of this research was to investigate the moderating role of cognitive processing and behavioral engagement of customers with sports clubs on the relationship between value co-creation, co-innovation, and customer knowledge. The present research was a correlational study conducted in the field. The statistical population of the research was customers of sports clubs in the city of Nasiriyah in Iraq, of which 408 individuals were selected as the sample using stratified sampling method. The co-innovation questionnaire of Arias-Pérez et al. (2020), customer knowledge of Behnam et al. (2020), value co-creation of Nysveen and Pedersen (2014), and cognitive processing and behavioral engagement of Hollebeek et al. (2014) were used. SPSS version 18 and PLS version 4 were used for data analysis. The results showed that customer knowledge has an effect on value co-creation. This finding is a new contribution to the previous literature on customer knowledge in sports services (Behnam et al., 2023; Fesanghari et al., 2020). This result can be discussed in the framework of the service dominant logic paradigm, which places customers as value creators alongside businesses (Zhou et al., 2024). Customer knowledge, in this context, refers to the understanding, experiences, and insights that customers bring to the value creation process. The dominant logic of service emphasizes that value is not intrinsic to goods or services but is created through interactions between customers and businesses (Hussain et al., 2022). Another result of this research showed that co-creation of value has an effect on co-innovation. Our study contributes to the exercise value framework (Woratschek et al., 2014). We demonstrated the important role of value co-creation in co-innovation in sports services. By showing how customers engage and acquire knowledge from their respective groups in an interactive environment, the results contribute to the 6th basic premise of the sports value framework (Woratschek et al., 2014), i.e. value co-creation in co-innovation. This research highlighted that value co-creation has a mediating role on the relationship between customer knowledge and co-innovation. This finding added to previous literature on value co-creation and customer knowledge in sports (Behnam et al., 2020; Kolyperas et al., 2019). Customers have valuable insight into their needs, preferences and market. By engaging customers in co-innovation, organizations can use this knowledge to create more relevant and innovative products and services. Finally, the results showed that cognitive processing has a moderating role on the relationship between customer knowledge and value co-creation. This finding provided new insight to previous customer engagement literature (Hollebeek et al., 2022). Customer knowledge is an important factor in value co-creation because it enables customers to participate more effectively in value creation. Cognitive processing refers to the mental activities that occur when processing information, making decisions, and engaging in problem solving. When cognitive processing moderates the relationship between customer knowledge and value co-creation, it suggests that the way customers process information and understand knowledge is a key factor in determining their involvement in value co-creation.
Sports management, marketing
javad moradi; Ali Hossien Zaher Mohsen
Abstract
Today, the key to the success of an organization and society is earning money for its survival. Without a secure income, society and various organizations will be dissolved and destroyed and cannot survive in a competitive environment. Income is a financial source that is injected into an organization ...
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Today, the key to the success of an organization and society is earning money for its survival. Without a secure income, society and various organizations will be dissolved and destroyed and cannot survive in a competitive environment. Income is a financial source that is injected into an organization in different ways and the organization can use it to produce goods and services. Reliable and stable income can provide the necessary facilities to meet the costs and expenses of organizations. In fact, income and financial resources are known as the driving force of sports organizations, clubs and leagues. Generating income is necessary for the development, effective planning and maintaining these organizations' independence. Research has shown that financial resources are vital for non-profit organizations such as sports federations and clubs. Non-profit sports organizations need financial support from the government and private institutions, but they prefer to organize sports activities independently (Iskandar et al, 2019). Every sports organization needs financial support to advance its programs and projects. These supports help the sports organization reach its goals (Solntsev, 2021). An important part of these resources is provided by the government. Other forms of income can be obtained from international organizations, marketing income, membership fees and donations. Nowadays, to introduce their company's name and provide their financial resources, many sports organizations refer to the companies which are interested in volunteering. In addition, clubs are capable of generating value and their revenue structure for buying and selling players, sales of secondary products (shirts, sports equipment, etc.), fan sponsorship, television rights, ticket sales and advertising are such that they can generate financial resources (Ljumović et al, 2022). Financing is one of the important issues in the field of financial management. Over the years, various methods have been developed in this field, the existence of various financial instruments can increase market efficiency and optimal allocation of resources (Dróżdż, 2021). Today, many professional clubs are well capable of playing an important role in the strategic performance of countries. Furthermore, the development and sustainable performance and especially the acquisition of financial resources and stable income have been given a lot of attention in today's football. The lack of balance and non-realization of sustainable incomes in different organizations of the football industry, such as clubs and different leagues, have been confirmed by various studies and reports from reputable institutions (Dunbar & Middleton, 2022).Meanwhile, managers of clubs and economic enterprises can play an essential role in strategic performance. Upon accepting the responsibility of financing, financial managers of companies or clubs must know the financial markets and financing methods in order to consider the most economical way of financing by using appropriate financial tools in the financial markets.Therefore, considering the importance of income generation for clubs and the issue of financing development of football clubs , and due to the fact that the relationship between football clubs' financing methods and their strategic performance has not been discussed so far , this scientific challenge seems to strongly require regular, codified and organized scientific research. It is clear that by carrying out such researches, suggestions can be given to governments and non-government policy makers so that they can take basic steps to develop the financing of football clubs and the ways to overcome the strategic performance of their organizations with research-based decisions and establish a financially successful break - even point in their clubs. With this approach, the researchers in this study intend to answer the following question: what are the financing methods and their relationship with the strategic performance of Iraq football clubs? This research is descriptive and correlational in terms of purpose and application. Its statistical population includes a selection of physical education professors of Iraq higher education institutions, managers and members of the physical education faculty of the Ministry of Science, coaches and referees and expert football experts, managers of public and private institutions active in the field of Iraq clubs who specialize in sports activities, especially football including 153 people who were selected as samples. The tools used in the current research include the researcher-made questionnaire and the standard strategic performance questionnaire of Slater et al. (2010). After confirming the validity of the questionnaires, the reliability of the questionnaires was obtained using Cronbach's alpha method, the financing questionnaire (0.89), and the strategic performance questionnaire (0.82). The data analysis of this research was done in the descriptive part by means of percentage frequency, average and standard deviation and in the inferential part including Pearson's correlation coefficient and regression tests using SPSS22 software. The results after the analysis showed that the income from holding competitions, sponsorship and commercial income, broadcast rights and infrastructure, and monetary and financial markets can significantly predict the strategic performance of Iraq football clubs. Based on the findings of the research and since earning more money can significantly predict the strategic performance of Iraq football clubs, it is suggested to increase the size of the sports market in Iraq by increasing the participation of economic enterprises, supporting large companies and financial sponsors, advertising and promoting products, goods and services, so that clubs can go through the commercialization process more easily. On the other hand, it seems that for the successful financing and commercialization of football clubs, a series of technical, economic and financial activities should be carried out in the light of the commercial registration of clubs as a commercial enterprise, so that clubs become institutions with a legal aspect and follow the rules of business. As a result, if the mechanism is well defined, clubs can achieve better financial success as also mentioned by other researchers (Szymanski & Weimar, 2019). They can continue to achieve sports success, and the club's sports success will also guarantee financial success and cause dynamism in clubs.
Sports management, marketing
sardar mohammadi; naser soroush; Elahe daneshrad; Leila Nazari; Tahere Mohseni seresht
Abstract
The book, as the first mass media, is always the focus and emphasis of the people of science and knowledge. Book review examines the contents expressed by the author in the book as closely as possible. The book is five thousand years old. The first books were in the form of clay tablets, but with the ...
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The book, as the first mass media, is always the focus and emphasis of the people of science and knowledge. Book review examines the contents expressed by the author in the book as closely as possible. The book is five thousand years old. The first books were in the form of clay tablets, but with the passage of time, due to human access to new facilities and the change of human need for communication and information, the form of books evolved. One of the valid definitions given for the book is related to the UNESCO organization: a book is a type of bound printed work that has more than 49 pages and is not published periodically under a fixed title like publications (Encyclopaedia of publishing and books). Many articles, including a review of the book "Basics of Sports Management" by Dr. Mehr Ali Hemti-Najad and Dr. Behnam Asheghi, a review of the book "The Practical Skills of Sports Management" by Dr. Leila Izadprast and Sara Haji Anzhani, and a review of the book "Management Information Systems". In Sports by Mahbobeh Jafarzadeh Zarandi and Mohammad Ebrahim Razaghi are available for book review. Information analysis Qualitative content analysis and multiple readings of the work were also used. The method (critical philosophical exploration) was used to examine the issue. Critical philosophical exploration means the rule of critical philosophical reflection on action (Hagerson) and the search for logical basis, reasoning methods, guiding values, or norms governing educational thoughts and practices. The steps of this method include the methodological and ontological assumptions of traditional traditional research, comparing multiple research centers to pay attention to the subject matter, and to determine the most integrated, and the most sophisticated paradigm. to the position Meanings that can be obtained from inside or outside, of course, this step of educational criticism requires considering criteria for criticism, criteria that can be formulated based on a historical context, various scientific theories, etc. Evaluation also includes commenting on the merit and value of the whole situation or In this article, the stages of critical philosophical exploration were combined with the stages of educational criticism and the general format of criticism including three stages: a: description and description of the book, b: interpretation of the book, c: evaluation and determination of the effectiveness of the book. The purpose of this research is to review the sports marketing management book. Due to the fact that this book has not been reviewed so far and also the importance of this book as an academic resource for students, it was decided to select this book for review. There is good quality printing and binding. The advantages of the content included having the appropriateness of the content with the objectives of the intended lesson, covering many approved topics, matching the book with the academic level of the students, the appropriate use of various scientific tools and responding to the scientific and practical needs of the society. Among the shortcomings and disadvantages of the book under review, it can be noted that some words are not written in the same hand, typographical errors. And he pointed out the inappropriateness of the image of the cover with the title. Also, some concepts are not well explained and detailed explanations are not provided by the authors. In general, it can be said that the work under review is one of the best translated books in the field of sports marketing management. As the most important educational material, the textbook occupies a large part of the teaching time and is the main focus of teaching and learning activities in the educational process. The appropriate quality of this educational media can play an effective role in the learning of students and the realization of educational goals. One of the textbooks related to the field of sports science and the field of sports management and the trend of sports marketing, with the title (Sports Marketing Management) is written in 19 chapters. It is by Sara Keshgar and his colleagues, which was published and launched in 2011 by Alam Vahrakat Publications. In general, the book (Sports Marketing Management) is one of the best books in the field of marketing, based on this, we will evaluate the book descriptively and analytically in three dimensions. We have addressed formal, content and structural aspects, so that by pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of the mentioned book, we can help its authors in editing the reprint of the book, and other writers interested in this field can get ideas from this research. Examining formal, structural aspects and the content of the work according to the criteria of interpretation of educational books is stated as follows: From the formal aspect, according to the reviews carried out according to the standard criteria, the present book is in a favorable condition. In the comparison that was made between the sports marketing management book and other books in this field, in terms of form, structure and content, it was lacking in some cases and overall it had advantages over the compared books. Existing and similar books, external dimensions such as binding, binding had the necessary capabilities like other compared books. But in terms of matching the title of the book with the picture on the cover, unfortunately, there is no good match and the picture on the cover is centered on athletics, which has nothing to do with the subject of the book. The book has a more fluent text and in terms of other content dimensions, such as the comprehensiveness of the content, the appropriateness of the volume of the chapters, the matching of the title of the chapters and the content in each chapter, the matching of the images with the content and other content dimensions, it has a favorable condition. Structurally, compared to the management book Compared to other books, sports marketing has a unique structure, in which all these structural features can be seen in very few books, because by using questions, activities, and personality self-assessment tests, and management self-tests, the reader is guided step by step. It helps in learning new concepts. But not having a dictionary is considered a weakness for it.
Sports management, marketing
Javad Shahlaee Bagheri
Abstract
Today, strategic and commercial policies are focused on maintaining and improving customer retention and increasing trust in the organization. The most important reasons for such a change is the increase in public awareness and information about the consequences related to customer satisfaction and retention. ...
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Today, strategic and commercial policies are focused on maintaining and improving customer retention and increasing trust in the organization. The most important reasons for such a change is the increase in public awareness and information about the consequences related to customer satisfaction and retention. The customer is considered a key and central factor in strengthening, profitability and survival of the organization, and the orientation of all the goals, strategies and resources of the organization is centered around customer attraction and retention. Hu et al. (2009) showed that retaining customers has a strong effect on the company's profit compared to attracting new customers. The expansion of sports requires attention and organization based on sports science through attracting and satisfying participants in physical activity. One of the most important small institutions Sports clubs play a fundamental and important role in the development of sports and physical activity in society. It is necessary to fully understand the components of customer satisfaction in health and fitness centers in order to effectively provide sports services to improve their health. It is necessary to identify important and effective factors in order to attract people to sports fields and to examine important factors in the continuation of their company (customer retention) in these fields by using different methods of research and research and finding the special needs and interests of people in the society Data mining is one of the most suitable options to help extract knowledge from a large volume of data, discover patterns and generate rules for predicting and comparing data that can help organizations make decisions and achieve a higher degree of confidence Data mining algorithms and considering several influential factors have been able to achieve reliable accuracy and accuracy in forecasting. For example, Keimasiet al. (2016) used C5.0 and Interactive CHAID algorithms and the information of 10,300 members of Mellat Bank customer club to cluster customers into loyal and non-loyal groups. This data includes two main parts of demographic information and information was related to the services used. Bay et al. (2022) investigated the effect of social responsibility on customer retention of fitness clubs with the mediating role of club reputation and confirmed the effect of social responsibility on customer retention with the mediating role of club reputation and reported that performing social responsibilities by gyms can play an important role in the reputation of the gym and increase their retention and manually selected 10 factors (traits) with the greatest impact on results.Davoodi and Khanteymoori used an artificial neural network with five learning algorithms to predict the results of horse racing. They found that the conjugate gradient method is the most suitable algorithm for predicting the last horse. Because of the growing awareness of health and fitness, the gym industry is booming. As a result, competition between private club businesses is becoming increasingly fierce. Therefore, it is critical for private clubs to develop membership retention strategies to prevent their customers from switching to a competitor. Using technology to predict churn can be beneficial for private clubs looking to stay on top of the business. According to evidence, no study has used data mining algorithms to predict customer satisfaction and retention of private clubs. Therefore, the purpose of this article was to predict the loss and retention of customers of private clubs using the nearest neighbor algorithm.The statistical population of this study was related to 724 athletes who participated in the online call (WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram, etc.) by completing the questionnaire in the present study. Of these, 640 athletes answered the questionnaire, of which 103 (16%) were confused. Finally, the sample included 537 athletes, 257 (48%) were women and 280 (52%) were men. This study was completed using an anonymous, researcher-made electronic questionnaire that had 18 factors related to customer satisfaction, and its validity was checked by 5 university professors and experts in the related field. In this data mining, k-nearest neighbor (KNN) algorithm was used for prediction. In this method, the data were first divided into two groups: training (for training) and test (for evaluation). The classification of data was done completely randomly using the partition node in the training data of Clementine software, where the training data had 75% of the data and the test data had 25% of the rest of the data.The findings indicate that the support vector machine algorithm can predict the percentage of permanent and non-permanent people with 73.4% accuracy and 71.6% accuracy using 18 customer retention factors. In this research, for the first time, the model of predicting customer retention in the field of sports venues has been investigated and, unlike other researches, the factors that may affect customer churn and retention have been analyzed and collected. The current observation suggests that the knowledge of the trainer, the up-to-dateness of the equipment, the availability of the hall and the use of social networks, etc. can be used to evaluate the tendencies of the client to drop. Also, as an industry whose sustainability is dependent on customer retention, they should place great importance on existing loyal customers, while at the same time they can introduce exclusive resources such as a full-time knowledgeable trainer to attract random customers. In addition, analyzing customer preferences and providing better and more convenient customer service should also be used as a marketing strategy. Prediction accuracy can be improved by using machine learning and data mining techniques that have not been used in this field, but have shown good results in other fields. Also, the use of combined algorithms can increase the prediction accuracy. In addition, the use of various factors and features such as the price performance of club membership helps to make more accurate predictions. On the other hand, with the help of a group of specialists and managers from other provinces of the country, a comprehensive data set can be collected in each sport. In order to provide an opportunity for comparison between different studies, researchers are advised to collect data from successful private clubs with high membership.
Sports management, marketing
Mohammad Abbaszadeh; Sajjad Pashaie; Hacı Duran; Hamed Golmohammadi
Abstract
Research in the field of sports sciences undergoes significant turmoil and instability, stemming from both quantitative and qualitative research methods. This turbulence prompts the expansion of theoretical and empirical knowledge in the domain. Qualitative research, which can be approached through positivist ...
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Research in the field of sports sciences undergoes significant turmoil and instability, stemming from both quantitative and qualitative research methods. This turbulence prompts the expansion of theoretical and empirical knowledge in the domain. Qualitative research, which can be approached through positivist or critical lenses, necessitates researchers to articulate their research philosophy and epistemological stance upfront. Notably, the methodological approach, rooted in intuitionism for analyzing social phenomena, undergoes similar shifts in sociology and sports management. This approach not only invites critique but also spawns numerous theoretical underpinnings. To counter reductionist tendencies in theoretical frameworks, the Multi-Grounded Theory (MGT) emerges, aiming to harmonize intuitive and reductionist analytical methods within the framework of Hegelian thesis and antithesis. Consequently, authors employing MGT move beyond the pure inductive approach in Grounded Theory (GT) by explicitly incorporating external theories. By bridging the gap between theoretical frameworks and empirical data, MGT promises to offer a holistic understanding of sports-related phenomena, empowering researchers to generate innovative theories and drive the advancement of knowledge in the field.
Sports management, marketing
Shiva Safarian; Mohammad Ali Nasimi; Maryam Rahmaty
Abstract
Today, the sports industry plays a crucial role in the production and consumption of sports goods and services and in economic development. It is considered one of the most effective factors in economic growth and one of the most revenue-generating industries of this century. The inclination of audiences ...
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Today, the sports industry plays a crucial role in the production and consumption of sports goods and services and in economic development. It is considered one of the most effective factors in economic growth and one of the most revenue-generating industries of this century. The inclination of audiences and customers of sports products to use social media as a platform for exchanging information and concepts has created new approaches in marketing science to make greater use of these capacities and the appropriate interactive space between businesses and customers. Therefore, businesses are compelled to focus on producing valuable and relevant content for their customers and consumers. In fact, businesses need the attention of audiences and users to purchase their products. Marketing trends indicate that converting audiences into users in the virtual space requires knowledge-based and awareness-raising strategies to stimulate and encourage emotional action.
By reviewing the literature on content marketing in past research, a fundamental gap is evident in both domestic and foreign studies regarding content marketing and electronic sports businesses: the lack of attention to a content marketing model in consumer-based electronic sports businesses. Hence, there is a necessity for a study aimed at developing a content marketing model in electronic sports businesses. Electronic sports consumers, sports product and service producers in Iran, and even electronic sports consumer businesses can benefit from the results of this study. In this regard, the main question of this research is: What is the content marketing model in electronic sports business with a grounded theory approach?
In this study, given the exploratory nature of the subject, a qualitative grounded theory method with a systematic approach by Strauss & Corbin (1998) using semi-structured interviews was employed. The statistical population of this research included senior managers and experts in the field of content marketing of online sports goods stores that sell various sports items and equipment under different brands. The snowball sampling method was used with criteria (having relevant education to the research topic, having more than 3 years of work experience in online stores, holding at least a managerial, executive, specialist, or expert position in content marketing in virtual space, and being interested in participating and expressing views and experiences). For data collection, library sources and 15 semi-structured interviews with experts were conducted. From interviewees 14 and 15, no new codes were extracted, and theoretical saturation was reached at interviewee 13.
The typed interview texts were transferred to the MaxQDA software and coded, resulting in a total of 233 initial open codes. After removing duplicate codes and merging similar codes, 95 final open codes were extracted. Finally, in selective coding, the axial codes were systematically categorized. In this research, 29 axial codes were categorized into 8 selective codes. The final model of this research shows that content production and distribution are influenced by contextual factors, the review of the current business status is influenced by causal factors, the measurement of content marketing success is influenced by intervening factors, the use of content production and distribution techniques and the application of psychological insights in marketing are influenced by strategic factors, and business success and customer penetration are influenced by outcome factors. Each of these factors is specifically explained below. This includes reviewing the overall company status, the current content process, and evaluating the effectiveness of the current content as causal factors in content marketing in electronic sports businesses. The overall business status review involves examining financial performance, growth trends, competitive position, and other factors that affect the overall status of the electronic sports business. In this technique, content is divided based on common topics or clusters. For example, electronic sports businesses can produce content related to bodybuilding exercises, healthy nutrition, training techniques, etc., and categorize them into different clusters. This method helps them provide relevant content to their audience and create diversity and breadth in their content.
