Relationship Model of Perception of the Success of Iranian National Sports Teams with Islamic Cohesion and National Identity

The purpose of this study was to path analyze the perception of the success of Iranian national sports teams in international competitions with Islamic cohesion and national identity among Iranian ethnic groups. This is an applied study conducted using descriptive-survey method based on the structural equations. The statistical population was all Iranian citizens interested in national sports of different ethnicities who participated in the study voluntarily. A total number of 1037 cases of Iranian completed the online questionnaire and 968 questionnaires were analyzed. Research tools included the researcher-made sport success perception questionnaire, national identity scale (Heere & James, 2007), and Islamic coherence questionnaire of Morovat and Baghabanyan (2011). The content validity of the questionnaires were confirmed by the experts. The reliability of the questionnaires was calculated to be 0.78, 0.88, and 0.83, respectively using Cronbach's alpha coefficients. The confirmatory factor analysis in AMOS Software Version 23 confirmed the measurement models. Hypotheses testing showed that the sport's success perception has a significant positive effect (0.461) on the national identity. Moreover, the positive significant effect of Islamic coherence was observed on the national identity (0.473). The value of R2 also showed that the sports success perception and Islamic coherence variables could totally explain 64.9% of the variance of national identity. Generally, the findings show that sports success can be used as a stimulus for national identity and Islamic coherence among Iranian ethnic groups