Investigating the relationship between social responsibility and the image and identity of the team among the selected football clubs of Iran Football Premier League

Authors

1 Bachelor, Department of Sports Management, Faculty of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.

2 PhD Student, Department of Sports Management, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

3 the coach, National University Sports Federation of I.R. Iran

4 M.Sc., Department of Sports Management, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

5 M.Sc., Department of Exercise Physiology, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between social responsibility and team image and identity among the selected football clubs of the Iran Football Premier League. The present research is descriptive-correlational in nature and applied in terms of purpose. The data collection was appropriate to the objectives of the research. The statistical population of the present study was all over 18 years old fans of Esteghlal, Persepolis, Traktor, Foolad and Sepahan teams during the season of 2020-2021. The sampling method of the present study was random cluster sampling using Morgan table with a statistical sample size of 384 for Each of the 5 teams. then it was analyzed after a total of 1920 questionnaires and the data collection tool was 3 standard questionnaires, social responsibility questionnaire (Chang and Yang, 2012); The team image questionnaire (Chan, 2008) and the team identity questionnaire (Hyper et al., 2012). The validity of the questionnaires were confirmed by 10 professors and specialists in sports management. the reliability of the questionnaires were 0.82, 0.77 and 0.74, respectively.the data was analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, frequencies, percentages and plotting) and inferential statistical methods Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and Spearman correlation test by using Spss software version 25. the Findings showed that there is a positive relationship between social responsibility and image and team identity; Therefore, social responsibility can be a tool to have a positive impact on the development and promotion of the image and identity of the team in the selected clubs of the Iranian Football Premier League.
 
Long Abstract
Introduction
Social responsibility is a tool that enables clubs to analyze the overall business environment and develop appropriate strategies to create a kind of competitive distinction in addition to protect the club and its assets. The relationship between the social responsibility of clubs and players, the image of the team in society and team identity are topics that are expanding and becoming increasingly important. Understanding the effectiveness of social responsibility can be very useful in the sports market and its impact on the reactions and attitudes of fans towards sports teams and clubs that are always trying to attract fans and retain and return fans. Regarding the growing importance of social responsibility and considering that little research has been done on the study of the role of social responsibility in portraying team identity, the researcher seeks to answer this question: How is the relationship between social responsibility and the image and identity of the team in the selected clubs of the Iranian Soccer Premier League?
Research Tools
The research, in terms of descriptive nature, is of correlation type and in terms of purpose, it is practical and the collection of information was field and appropriate to the objectives of the research. All fans over 18 years old were from Esteghlal, Perspolis, Traktor, Foulad and Sepahan teams in the 2020, 2021 season. The sampling method of the present study was random cluster sampling. The statistical sample size by using Morgan table was 384 for each of the 5 teams and after reviewing, a total of 1920 questionnaires were analyzed. Data collection tools were 3 standard questionnaires, social responsibility questionnaire (Chang and Yang, 2012), team image questionnaire (Chan, 2008) and team identity questionnaire (Hyper et al., 2012). The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by 10 professors and sports management specialists. The questionnaires were distributed electronically in the Telegram and Instagram pages of the fans of the 5 selected clubs, with the Iranian Premier League having the most fans. The reliability of the questionnaire was 0.82, 0.77 and 0.74, respectively. Data analysis was done by using descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, frequencies, percentages and graphing) and inferential statistics methods Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and Spearman correlation test was performed with the help of Spss software version 25.
Data Analysis
The results of Spearman correlation coefficient test in Table (1) show that there is a positive and significant relationship between team image and team identity in Iranian Premier League clubs. The general conclusion of the study showed that there is a positive relationship between social responsibility and the image and identity of the team in the clubs of the Iranian Soccer Premier League.
Conclusion
Sports clubs need to develop a variety of social responsibility programs that are programmed by considering the fans and their purpose. Social responsibility sports clubs strengthen their character with the fans instead of making a profit. In other words, social responsibility activities have a positive effect on the image of the team and the team identity of the club's fans. Therefore, the managers of the country's sports clubs should consider positive and attractive associations and images for fans in designing their brand identity patterns with a long-term perspective and using management models in the field of marketing, especially in the field of social responsibility.
reference
-     Aziziani, M., Shabani Bahar, Gh.R., Henry, H.. (2019), “The relationship between customer relationship management environment and team identity of professional football club fans”, Fifth National Conference of the Scientific Association of Sports Management of Iran. [In Persian]
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-     Green, M. R. (2016), “The impact of social networks in the development of a personal sports brand”, Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal, 6(3): 274-294.

Keywords

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History

  • Receive Date: 12 November 2021
  • Revise Date: 18 February 2022
  • Accept Date: 22 February 2022

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