Basic Decision-making Pattern of Iranian Sport Management: Strategy Discourse Exploration using Grounded Analysis

Studying language، text and discourse in micro، native and local domains is one of the emphasized streams of research in the newest paradigm of strategy research، namely، “strategy as practice”. This critical study seeks to derive the “what” and “why” of the pattern of Iranian sport mangers decisions from the text of Iranian sport management using qualitative research and drawing on social constructivism philosophy. Accordingly، this study uses grounded analysis and induction-based coding approach through Atlas. ti – specific explorative analysis software. The conclusions are emerged from 12 semi-structured field interviews and 19 secondary documents. The samples result from a combination of purposeful، snowball، convenience، and theoretical sampling methods. Finally، it is discovered that the causal conditions of “economic uncertainty، managerial uncertainty، uncertainty of orientations ambiguity and uncertainty of politicized management” along with the intervening conditions of “past success، background، anxiety-relieving، power structure، and media role” shape the phenomenon of “certainty-demanding discourse” in the context of “stakeholders myopia and lack of independence”. These factors altogether construct the “legitimating strategy” and decisional consequences of tendency to “science، coalition، ethic، promotion، and adaptation”.