Sport Psychology Studies

Sport Psychology Studies

Identifying and Ranking Factors Affecting Organizational Virtue with the Aim of Reducing Social Harms in Iranian Professional Football Teams

Document Type : Original research

Authors
Mozhgan Karimi 1
Mahdi Esfahani 2
Javad Mohammadkhani 3
Kazem Cheragh Birjandi 4
1 Department of physical Education and Sports Sciences, Mashhad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran
2 Assistant Professor, Department of Sport Sciences, Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, Imam Reza International University, Khorasan Razavi, Mashhad, Iran
3 Assistant Professor, Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Mashha, Branch, Islamic Azad University , Mashhad , Iran
4 Associate Professor, Department of Physical Education and sport sciences, Birjand Branch, Islamic Azad University, Birjand, Iran.
10.22089/spsyj.2025.18388.2599
Abstract
Objective: The sports environment is a setting where behaviors emerge that have important consequences for athletes, sports organizations, and society. The purpose of this study was to identify and rank the factors affecting organizational virtue with the aim of reducing social harms in professional football teams in the country.
Materials and Methods: The present study is applied in terms of its purpose and mixed (qualitative-quantitative) of an exploratory nature. The statistical population of the qualitative part consisted of sports professors and cultural-social deputies of sports clubs and the football federation, and the quantitative part included 6 Premier League clubs. The quantitative data collection tools were a researcher-made organizational virtue questionnaire extracted from the qualitative part and a researcher-made questionnaire on reducing social harms. In this study, Smart PLS 3 and SPSS v20 software were used.
Findings: The factors of organizational virtue were identified and ranked, with organizational factors having the first priority, individual-behavioral factors having the second priority, contextual/environmental factors having the third priority, and managerial-leadership factors having the last priority in reducing social harms among professional football athletes in the country. The existence of a significant and negative relationship between the factors affecting organizational virtue and social harms is confirmed, and it can be said that the factors affecting organizational virtue are effective in reducing social harms.
Conclusion: It is concluded that the existence of a model of organizational virtue and the promotion of moral virtues derived from the national culture and the rich culture prevailing in the country's sports can be effective in institutionalizing the values and moral virtues of players and can prevent the negative consequences arising from social harms present in sports and the lack of observance of ethical principles in the country's professional football.
Keywords
Organizational Virtue
Social Harms
Football League
Subjects
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Sport Psychology Studies
Volume 15, Issue 57
Summer 2026
Pages 50-75

  • Receive Date 13 August 2025
  • Revise Date 30 September 2025
  • Accept Date 01 October 2025