Identifying Obstacles and Providing Solutions for the Development of Sports Entrepreneurship in Semnan Province: A Qualitative Study

Sanaeepour, Hadi; Hosieninia, Seyed Reaza

doi:10.22034/jer.2024.2028140.1111

Identifying Obstacles and Providing Solutions for the Development of Sports Entrepreneurship in Semnan Province: A Qualitative Study

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

Hadi Sanaeepour ¹

Seyed Reaza Hosieninia ²

¹ Department of Management, Azadshahr Faculty of Humanities, Gonbad Kavous University, Gonbad Kavous, Iran.

² Department of Sport Management, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran.

10.22034/jer.2024.2028140.1111

Abstract

Introduction: There are countless opportunities in sports, and taking advantage of these opportunities needs creative and innovative people and the availability of the right infrastructure and context for the emergence of entrepreneurial activities. Sports entrepreneurship is one of the applied knowledge that has recently been proposed in the field of sports science and its capabilities have been noticed by researchers and policymakers as one of the branches of sports science. Sports entrepreneurship, which has enjoyed rapid growth in recent years, includes the use of technical knowledge, business management knowledge, innovation, creativity, and risk-taking to provide new products and services in the field of sports. Providing new products and services, new processes, and new administrative structures and approaches, coupled with developing new businesses, are among the most obvious innovations in the field of sports. Accordingly, the present research was carried out to identify the barriers and approaches to developing sports entrepreneurship in Semnan province.
Methodology: This research was conducted using the qualitative research paradigm with an exploratory approach. The statistical population included sports entrepreneurship experts, planners and managers of sports organizations, and business owners with reputations as sports entrepreneurs in Semnan province. The sample was taken purposively. Data were collected through interviews with 15 experts. The interviews continued until theoretical saturation. Data were analyzed by two methods in the research process. First, the theoretical framework and literature were reviewed in depth to identify components and variables related to sports entrepreneurship development in the scientific literature. Second, the interviews were subjective to qualitative content analysis by coding, including open, axial, and selective coding, to extract components and variables. The validity and reliability of the findings were ensured through the member control technique, triangulation, and researcher's self-review during the process of data collection and analysis.
Findings: In the open coding step, 424 codes were identified. Then, in the axial coding step, they were examined in more detail and were aggregated and categorized into 44 axial codes. After categorizing, summarizing, and reducing the codes, 10 cases were finally identified as the most important obstacles to the development of sports entrepreneurship in Semnan province, and a three-dimensional model was designed including individual-behavioral, structural-management, and environmental-contextual dimensions. The main obstacles to the development of sports entrepreneurship in Semnan province can be divided into ten areas, including the lack of individual entrepreneurial abilities, the lack of a plan for the development and empowerment of people, the lack of specialized entrepreneurial skills, the lack of marketing and product development, the lack of interaction and external relations, weak technology and technology transfer, lack of entrepreneurial culture, lack of policy-making, inappropriate conditions of the business environment, and the lack of financial support and infrastructure strengthening.
Conclusion/ Implications: This research designed a three-dimensional model of the obstacles to sports entrepreneurship development in Semnan province. At the level of individual barriers (behavioral, content) for the development of sports entrepreneurship, suggestions can be made such as training and developing capable human resources, improving the quality of human resources, creating entrepreneurial attitudes, providing expert advice to identify and exploit opportunities, and promoting entrepreneurial characteristics.

Keywords

Entrepreneurship Development

Qualitative Content Analysis

Semnan Province

Sports Entrepreneurship

Subjects

Entrepreneurship Development

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