Identification the Factors Influencing the Incidence and Spread of Ethical Corruption and Its Control Methods

 The link between corruption and sport has a long history. Corruption in sports (in all its forms and degrees) is a global phenomenon that continues to threaten the integrity of the sports industry, and is a major challenge for sports managers, clubs, organizations and all elements of the sports community (1). The increasing complexity and nature of corruption has been discussed in many sports. So far, however, little research has examined the state of corruption in sport. In this regard, Szwajdler (2016) in a study examined selected measures against corruption in sports and researchers' opinions about them. It was found that corruption in sports clearly has a negative impact on the health of sports and society (3). The results of Hwang (2016) study also showed that there is a positive correlation between people's perceptions of corruption and the magnitude of national corruption; There is a negative correlation between individuals' perceptions of corruption and corruption in sport; And there was a difference between people's perceptions of corruption at the individual level (e.g., individual recovery), sports corruption, and team level (e.g., team doping), corruption in sport (4).  Due to the prevalence of corruption in sports, so far little research has examined corruption in soccer (9-11). In this regard, prioritizing the factors affecting corruption in soccer from the perspective of experts in this field has been determined that organizational characteristics are in the first priority and economic factors, cultural factors, personal characteristics of employees and rules and regulations, respectively, have caused corruption in soccer (9). On the other hand, so far, no research has examined the factors affecting the incidence and spread of corruption in age-old soccer. Soccer has a special place in discharging the emotions of children, and also in cultivating national heroes and motivating national pride, there are various life lessons in it. In this conscious and purposeful physical activity in the world of noisy environment, it is not only a great field of friendship, competition and struggle, but also a manifestation of high human values ​​in which there are scenes of effort, forgiveness, cooperation, honesty, patience, courage and beauty. Students of this sport are taught the lessons of effort, sacrifice, cooperation, endurance and courage and it is one of the educational tools in the transformation and health of society. Now, if corruption is not eradicated in its most fundamental part, ie at the grassroots level, children will grow up in unhealthy conditions, so it is necessary for corruption in this sport to be given special attention in the grassroots sector. Given the above and paying attention to the fact that there is corruption in all elements of sports, this issue also attracts a lot of attention in soccer. Especially in grassroots soccer, which is not like adult leagues where all the media and people follow the small and big events. The present study has been compiled with the aim of the identification the factors influencing the incidence and spread of ethical corruption and its control methods.

The research method is applied in terms of purpose and in terms of data collection in the field. The statistical population of this research is 150 sports experts aware of soccer issues, consisting of experts in the field of media and soccer, experts in the field of economics and soccer marketing, experts in the field of culture and soccer and experts in the field of refereeing and professional coaching of basic soccer which were selected by cluster sampling method. They form. In order to collect data, field method and a questionnaire identifying the effective factors in the incidence of moral corruption have been used. Confirmatory factor analysis (structural equation model), Friedman test, Amos version 24 and SPSS software version 25 were used to analyze the data.

The results showed that the cause of managerial corruption (β=0.831), the cause of family corruption (β=0.807), cultural corruption (β=0.788), social corruption (β=0.760) and media corruption (β=0.760) have an effect on the incidence of corruption in grassroots soccer. Factors affecting the incidence of moral corruption in grassroots soccer in terms of research samples in order of priority were media corruption, managerial corruption, cultural corruption, social corruption, family corruption.

The findings of the present study show that the factors of managerial corruption, family corruption, cultural corruption, social corruption and media corruption have a significant impact on the incidence of moral corruption in grassroots football. These results are consistent with the findings of Najafikolori et al. (2012), Ghorbani et al. (2019) and Zare et al. (2016) (7, 10, 11). Sport must be accompanied by moral values, principles of chivalry, forgiveness and self-sacrifice, and the observance of moral principles and standards is obligatory on all athletes, spectators, coaches and sports managers. However, this is not the case in practice, and behavioral abnormalities, aggression, cheating, collusion, and lawlessness are increasing day by day in sports settings, and are also evident in the younger age groups, namely infants, adolescents, and young adults. In recent years, researchers have shown that playing football has many benefits in maintaining the vitality and health of children and adolescents (14). Therefore, moral corruption in this group can be a serious threat to the vitality and health of children and adolescents. Shaking the moral values ​​of society, destroying the legitimacy of the government and the rule of law, destroying transparency and accountability, reducing healthy opportunities for progress for individuals, increasing the cost of healthy living are other harmful effects of corruption that are a major obstacle to achieving goals. And are considered social responsibilities (15-18). Determining the extent of corruption in sport is somewhat difficult because, first, the extent of corruption in sport depends largely on the definition of corruption in sport. Secondly, it is very difficult to investigate corruption in sports. On the other hand, the various dimensions of corruption in sports are very diverse. Lack of adherence of society to the observance of moral standards, the existence of lawlessness in the culture of society and the degree of patriarchy in society are the most important cultural factors affecting the tendency to corruption (19). Regardless of which factor plays a greater role in corruption, two basic conditions are necessary for a violation to occur in all circumstances: willingness and opportunity. If there is a desire and opportunity for corruption, corruption will be born and will grow if other conditions are met. Proper knowledge of the history, traditions, values, space and specific conditions of society and prevailing policies in the field of work, appropriate combination of supervision and punishment, participation of community members at the local level in the functioning of units, efficient rules and regulations, free, independent and committed media It can play an important role in controlling corruption (22-25). Also, according to the findings of the present study, the factors affecting the incidence of moral corruption in grassroots football in terms of research samples were in order of priority: media corruption, managerial corruption, cultural corruption, social corruption, family corruption. The present study, like other researches, has faced limitations. This research is spatially limited to a specific part of Iran and this issue limits the spatial generalization of research. Cluster sampling method instead of whole number sampling can be considered as an internal interfering variable. In general, identifying the occurrence of moral corruption and the reasons for its spread can help clubs, organizations and sports institutions to take measures to reduce the rate of corruption in sports, especially the younger age groups. According to the results of the present study, it seems that providing appropriate solutions to help the factors identified in this study can reduce corruption in sports of age groups.