Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) of the Components of Sport Diplomacy in the Development of International Relations of Islamic Republic of Iran

The aim of the present study was to model the components of sport diplomacy in the development of international relations of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The present study was applied in terms of aims and mixed sequential exploratory in terms of data collection. The sample was equal to population (325 Iranian and foreign experts of sport diplomacy who executively or scientifically had national and international positions in sport diplomatic relations). A questionnaire with 60 items was used to collect data. Confirmatory factor analysis decreased the number of items to 59 and 10 components: international branding and prestige, cultural development, political development, economic development, fight isolation and sanction, leave the dark side, peace and friendship, national unity, media communication and soft power development. Cronbach’s alpha and Dillon-Goldstein P tests confirmed the validity of the questionnaire and its components. In addition, soft power development was the most important factor to explain the variance. On the other hand, partial least squares (PLS) confirmed the final model of the study and also divergent and convergent validity of the questionnaire.