مارکو پریچ

The purpose of this study is to examine the most important institutional factors that support the exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities within the sports tourism industry. The present study is a qualitative research based on data gathered from available documentary studies and semi-structured interviews conducted with 35 experts in the field of sports tourism and sports entrepreneurship in Iran. The interpretive structural model (ISM) was used to analyze the data. According to the results of the research, 74 indicators were identified and classified under 11 institutional factors, including rule of law, government policies, social norms, social values, social beliefs, expert knowledge promotion, social knowledge promotion, public sector support, private sector support, complementary attraction, and information technology, at five hierarchical levels. Government policies and public sector support were identified as fifth-level factors that act as the model’s cornerstone. Finally, the research results suggest that for the growth of the sports tourism industry in developing countries such as Iran, other identified factors must also be involved in the growth of this industry. In this regard, the existence of an appropriate legal, normative, supportive, and educational environment will affect the ability and willingness of market participants to identify and take advantage of entrepreneurial opportunities in the emerging sports tourism industry.

The spread of coronavirus in the world has had various effects on industries, especially the sports industry. The purpose of this study was to explain and classify the effects of coronavirus outbreak on the dimensions of the sports industry. The present study was applied in nature, mixed in terms of data retrieval and descriptive-exploratory in terms of data analysis method that data collection was done in the field. The statistical population in the qualitative section included sports experts, 18 people were purposefully selected, and the statistical population in the quantitative section included all activists in the field of sports and sports industry, of which 600 samples were selected by simple random sampling. Data collection in the qualitative part was done by the systematic method of data theory and in the quantitative part, using a researcher-made questionnaire obtained from the qualitative part of the present study with 79 items in 2 dimensions of direct effects and indirect effects on a 5-point Likert scale. Research data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical methods with the help of SPSS24 and Amos statistical software. The results showed that the outbreak of coronavirus had a direct and indirect role in the production and distribution sectors, private and public sectors, sports education and research, trade, events and competitions, technology, services and economics of the sports industry. This finding can help the country's sports managers and officials to improve the situation of the sports industry in the post-Corona era.