Developing a Personal Brand Shaping Model for Iran Professional Athletes

The aim of this study was to develop a personal brand shaping model for Iran professional athletes. The research methodology was a mixed exploratory sequence based on the method of collecting data. In the qualitative stage, data were collected by semi-structured interviews with 23 professional athletes, coaches, sport marketing managers, psychologists and sport sociologists. The research sample was selected using purposive and snowball sampling methods. In the qualitative stage, the data were analyzed by coding method in three stages: open, axial and selective and the findings included 91 concepts in open coding, and were categorized in the form of 31 concepts in axial coding. In the selective coding stage, those factors influencing the personal brand shaping of professional athletes in Iran were modeled.  In the quantitative phase, the sample consisted of 220 participants who were selected by stratified random sampling method. In the quantitative stage, the research instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire. Smart PLS software was used to validate personal brand shaping model for Iran professional athletes. According to the results of t test, the factor loads of all components were significant at 99% of confidence level and played a significant role in shaping the personal brand model of professional athletes in Iran.