Identifying Strategies for Developing Fan Culture in Sports Clubs
Keywords:
sports clubs, development, strategy, fan cultureAbstract
The main objective of this study is to explain and present a model for the development of fan culture in sports clubs using the grounded theory approach. The research design is applied in nature and was conducted using a descriptive-analytical method. The statistical population of this study consisted of all managers of sports clubs in Shiraz, Iran. The participants were 20 key informants and experts, including university professors and executive sports managers, who were selected through purposive and snowball sampling methods. The research findings revealed that, in the open coding phase, a total of 200 initial open codes related to the development of fan culture were identified. Data analysis indicated the emergence of 49 concepts and 6 categories representing the challenges facing the development of fan culture in sports clubs. Grounded theory was employed to analyze the data, providing a systematic process for the development of informational categories (open coding), category development (axial coding), and the construction of a narrative to connect the categories (selective coding), concluding with a set of theoretical and interpretive propositions. Overall, based on the research findings, it can be stated that the model obtained in the present study represents a comprehensive and robust framework of strategies for the phenomenon of fan culture development. Progress in the area of assessing the potential for fan culture development requires an understanding of a conceptual model encompassing all influential and relevant factors in the discourse of cultural development. Therefore, the results of this study can enhance the awareness of researchers at macro, meso, and micro levels regarding the development of fan culture.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Mohammad Ali Rahmanaian Kooshkaki (Author); Mehdi Savadi; Hamid Reza Saibani (Author)
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