Developing a model of the tendency to immigrate amongst Iranian elite athletes: based on grounded theory

The purpose of this study was Developing a model of the tendency to immigrate amongst  Iranian elite athletes: based on grounded theory. The present study was carried out qualitatively using grounded theory (grounded theory). The statistical population consisted of experts in the field of sports and sociology from three fields of science, administration and sports, which continued by snowball sampling and reached the theoretical saturation of the data and in the form of 26 qualitative interviews. The main and sub-categories affecting the tendency of athletes to migrate in three stages of Open coding, Axial coding and Selective coding were identified and related to each other. The results showed that a set of factors together and in interaction with each other are effective in determining the pattern of migration of athletes, which were divided into three levels: macro, intermediate and micro. Macro-level factors include: some factors in the global interventionist context and the economic, social, political and cultural in Context conditions of the paradigm model. Intermediate level factors include: some factors in the causal conditions of the paradigm model (managerial factors, structural factors and facilities and welfare factors) that are in an environment close to athletes and related to the country's sports authorities. Finally, the micro level includes: individual factors and personality and psychological characteristics of athletes themselves. Based on the results, the phenomenon of athlete migration is a multifaceted issue and no single factor can be introduced as an effective factor; Therefore, strategies related to these factors should be considered at three levels: macro, medium and micro to prevent or reduce this phenomenon.