Factors affecting bullying among Iranian professional football coaches

As an integral part of society, sport faces problems similar to that of society. One problem is the bullying of football coaches.

This study identifies the factors affecting bullying among Iranian professional football coaches.

The research method is descriptive survey based on structural equations modeling. The statistical population included all professional football coaches in Iran in 2021. 205 coaches are selected as a sample based on the simple random sampling method. A researcher-made questionnaire with 33 questions was used based on qualitative interviews and coding to collect the data. Once expert’s validation is obtained (n=8), the reliability of the questionnaire is evaluated and confirmed by Cronbach's alpha method and mixed reliability. SPSS-23 and PLS Smart-2 are used to analyze the data in the descriptive and inferential sections.

The confirmatory factor analysis results show 8 factors of anti-social behaviors in sports, athletes, interactions, bullying and harassment experience, occupational factor, behavioral factor, contextual and managerial factors, and individual and psychological factors as factors affecting bullying among Iranian professional football coaches. The results of confirmatory factor analysis indicate an acceptable fit. Content, divergent and convergent validity indicated good scale validity.

The results showed that different factors affect the bullying of coaches. Therefore, it is necessary to study the identified factors and focus on football coaches. It is suggested that sports managers and officials be better informed about the factors identified in this study.