Governance in Iraqi sports organizations' support programs for marketing

Abstract

The present study aims to formulate policies for the support programs of Iraq’s sports organizations in the marketing activities of Olympic sports, with a case study on swimming. This research is qualitative and based on the grounded theory methodology. The statistical population included managers of governmental and private sports organizations, officials from sports federations (especially the swimming federation), and sports marketing experts, university professors, sports management researchers, elite athletes, and swimming coaches. The sampling method was purposive and snowball sampling, and interviews continued until theoretical saturation was achieved (22 interviews). The criteria for selecting participants included a minimum of five years of experience in sports or sports marketing, specialized knowledge in sports policy-making, and access to key information on sports marketing and sponsorship. To ensure validity and reliability, participant review techniques and expert peer review were applied. The analysis of interviews resulted in 99 initial codes and 20 core codes. The study’s findings indicate that the policy-making model for support programs of Iraq’s sports organizations in the marketing of Olympic sports (case study: swimming) is influenced by causal conditions, including managerial, economic, socio-cultural, and educational factors. By considering extracted strategies—governance and regulatory strategies, financial and resource strategies, socio-cultural and public participation strategies, and skill development and training strategies—which are shaped by contextual conditions (organizational structure, laws and regulations, and socio-cultural environment) and intervening conditions (leadership and strategic challenges, financial and cultural challenges), the expected outcomes include the growth and development of swimming, strengthening international relations, social changes, and the enhancement of the sports economy