Construction and Validation of a Mixed Assessment Tool for Social Marketing of School Sports Based on Morris and Clarkson's Model

People participate in sports because of a variety of factors; some of which are influenced by the environment; while others are influenced by internal factors; hence, changing the behavioral approach to sports is necessary. As a result, methods for modifying people's behavior should be identified. Behavior change encompasses a wide range of concepts. Among these concepts that can be applied to enhance physical activity in particular populations is social marketing. As one of the most significant upcoming areas of marketing, it plays a crucial role in social benefit. Social marketing aims to enhance individual and social well-being, so this approach can be utilized to develop physical activity and sports for young people. Therefore, the purpose of the research conducted is to answer the question, what is the social marketing mix in school sports? The present study was a mixed method exploratory study with a purposeful approach. During the first phase of the research, questions from the researcher's questionnaire were combined and used as a basis for analysis. Using this methodology, first of all, all related research papers and articles (from 2010 to 2022) were reviewed in the external scientific databases of Scopus, Emerald, Google Scholar, Science Direct, as well as Civilica and Mogiran internal databases, and the codes related to the subject were identified by summing and distinguishing semantics. According to the distances between the fundamental concepts, the differentiation principle and the completion of the research question, the concepts were extracted, and if they could be integrated, integration was carried out. The second stage involved correlation analysis (correlation type of factor analysis with principal component analysis method) and field data collection. The research community was first formed by a combination of sports management experts, university experts, officials from school sports departments, as well as physical education teachers with experience in education. A targeted sampling of 10 of these participants resulted in the preparation of a researcher-made questionnaire based on the theoretical basis and background of the research and based on Morris and Clarkson (2009)'s model. Once the necessary reforms had been made and a consensus had been reached, the final questionnaire was prepared. The statistical population for the second stage of the research consisted of all the male and female students who attended South Khorasan conservatories, a total of more than 12,329. A random cluster sampling method was used at this stage, and six clusters were randomly chosen from the identified clusters. As a result of Morgan's table, 380 individuals were selected as the sample size, of which 376 completed and returned the questionnaire. A content validity test and a construct validity test were conducted to assess and verify the construct validity of the mixed evaluation tool for social marketing in sports, and a Cronbach's alpha (α=0.96) was used to assess the reliability of the above questionnaire. According to statistical analysis, a questionnaire consisting of 7 dimensions was developed (proposal with 7 questions, cost of participation with 4 questions, policy and policy with 4 questions, social communication with 4 questions, creating partners with 4 questions, general public with 3 questions and location with 4 questions). As a result of the significance test of t for all items, the results were higher than 1.96, and all the factor loadings were greater than 0.3, which indicates that the selected paths have appropriate factor loadings. As a result, the CFI and NFI fit indices were greater than 0.90, the RMSEA was less than 0.08, and the CMIN/df was not greater than 5, indicating that the model was well fitted. As part of this study, using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis as an appropriate method of tool making, the researcher evaluated the social marketing in sports questionnaire. This was done by considering the research environment's cultural and social characteristics. Results of the study indicate that the school's measurement tool for social marketing is valid. Moreover, specialists and planners in the field of school sports can use this tool for assessing social marketing in schools, as well as for designing and implementing programs based on the components of this tool to enhance and improve the level of school sports. This questionnaire can be used and analyzed in other educational levels in order to make it more valid.