Determining the Validity and Reliability of Spectator-Based Sports Team Reputation Scale in Persian

Spectator-based sports team reputation can have positive direct and indirect impacts on stakeholders’ behavior. In this regard, researchers are also seeking for a valid and reliable instrument to evaluate this kind of reputation. Therefore, the validity and the reliability of the Spectator-Based Sports Team Reputation Scale (Jang et al., 2015) in Persian were determined in this study. The given scale consists of team performance, team tradition, team social responsibility, spectator orientation, management quality and financial soundness of teams. After obtaining permission from the developer of the scale, content validity and face validity were confirmed by a group of experts. The questionnaire was also translated based on a three-step approach. To determine the reliability of the given scale, a pilot study was carried out on 45 participants in the present study (university students). To assess the construct validity of the given scale, a sample of 219 students with experiences of watching the games of Esteghlal and Persepolis closely were selected. In addition, confirmatory factor analysis technique and the LISREL Software were employed to assess the construct validity of the scale. The findings showed that the agents selected to measure the components of sports team reputation were endowed with the required reliability and they could measure the construct very well (RMSEA≤0.05). Considering these results, it was argued that the adapted Spectator-Based Sports Team Reputation Scale could be applied as a reliable and valid questionnaire for Iranian sport teams.