Factors associated with national football team coach selection in Iran

Abstract

To examine the associations of professional, organizational, financial, political, and sociocultural factors with stakeholder perceptions of national football team coach selection in Iran, using the quantitative phase of a doctoral dissertation. A cross-sectional online survey included 396 complete questionnaires from football stakeholders recruited through convenience sampling. Respondents included federation officials, club executives, coaches, players, agents, sport management academics, supporters’ association managers, and sports publication managers. A researcher-developed questionnaire, informed by an earlier qualitative phase, assessed nine domains on five-point agreement scales. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and partial least squares structural equation modeling in SmartPLS. Reliability, average variance extracted, cross-loadings, interconstruct correlations, and direct-path statistics were extracted from the dissertation without re-estimation. The sample included 315 men and 81 women. Reported domain-level Cronbach’s alpha values ranged from 0.70 to 0.87, composite reliability from 0.87 to 0.91, and average variance extracted from 0.64 to 0.83. All nine reported direct associations were positive. Performance history had the largest coefficient (β = 0.612, t = 24.41), followed by political factors (β = 0.546, t = 24.01), media (β = 0.533, t = 19.67), coaching skills (β = 0.518, t = 26.40), informal influential groups (β = 0.500, t = 29.19), financial and material factors (β = 0.493, t = 24.77), public culture and religious characteristics (β = 0.487, t = 22.25), official sports organizations (β = 0.476, t = 26.67), and individual factors (β = 0.460, t = 24.67). The dissertation reported R² = 0.99 and GoF = 0.836. Inconsistencies in predictive-relevance and discriminant-validity reporting limit claims of full model validation. Stakeholders perceived coach selection as a multidimensional process extending beyond professional credentials. The findings support examining appointment procedures through both coaching competence and governance, while requiring verification of the original model outputs before strong predictive conclusions are drawn.