Modeling the Factors Affecting the Sport Migration of Iranian Elite Athletes

In recent years, migration of people is one of the problems of underdeveloped, developing countries and even some of the developed countries. Human resources play a central role in the sustainable development of countries. The present study sought to prioritize the causes that led to the migration of national team athletes from the country. This research was based on the purpose of applied research and on the basis of quantitative-qualitative (mixed) method. The statistical population of the study consisted of all medalists participating in the last two rounds of the Asian and Olympic Games, 177 of whom were randomly selected 118 according to Morgan table. In order to obtain the information needed for structured and semi-structured interviews with a number of coaches and champions of national teams through snowballing to theoretical saturation, the data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire. Questionnaire reliability coefficient (0.96) was obtained. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis with SPSS software version 22 and PSL3 software. The research results show that prioritizing the factors affecting the sport migration of national team athletes are as follows: managerial, social, political, psychological, cultural and economic. Each of these factors must be taken into consideration to prevent the migration of human capital to the country.