Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1 Department of Physical Education, Sanandaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sanandaj, Iran
2 Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Sanandaj Branch,, Islamic Azad University, Sanandaj, Iran.
3 Department of Statistics, Sanandaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sanandaj, Iran.
4 Department of Physical Education, Sanandaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sanandaj, Iran.
Abstract
Introduction: This study aimed to identify and analyze the factors affecting themarketing of sports equipment manufacturing companies in social networks.
Methods This study was a mixed-methods research with a sequential explanatory design. The participants of this research consisted of 18 experts who were selected using snowball sampling method. The content analysis method proposed by King et al. (2018) was used to identify the influential factors, and the Dematel technique was used for internal analysis. In the qualitative section, research auditing strategies such as researcher sensitivity, methodological coherence, sample adequacy, simultaneous data collection and analysis, and theoretical thinking were used. In the quantitative study, for validation purposes, formal and content validity were confirmed by 8 marketing experts in the sports field, and questionnaire reliability was obtained through Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.896.
Results: The qualitative study identified 77 sub-themes and 16 main themes affecting the marketing of sports equipment manufacturing companies in social networks. In a quantitative analysis, it was determined that the themes of hard threat, soft threat, and the expansion of social networks have the greatest effect on the mentioned marketing, and contrast to the themes of legislation, value creation, and determining content production strategy, respectively, they have the least effect on marketing. It was also found that the themes of determining content production strategies, tactics and policy, and the platform have the highest effectiveness. And the theme of determining tactics and approaches has the most interaction with other relevant themes. Finally, the variables of severe threat, soft threat, expanding the influence of social networks, the growth of the digital environment, customer recognition and financing are causal themes, and other themes are invalid variables.
Conclusion: It can be concluded that the factors influencing the marketing of sports equipment manufacturing companies on social media platforms are diverse. Among them, these companies should pay special attention to the most influential threats, both hard and soft, and plan to address these threats and leverage available opportunities.
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