Analysis of Knowledge Management at the Ministry of Sport and Youth using SWOT-AHP hybrid Approach

The purpose of the present study was to analyze the status of knowledge management in the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs as a public authority and main body of sport in Iran. The present study was carried out by exploratory mixed method in two qualitative and quantitative phases and sequentially. The statistical population of the study consisted of expert managers and knowledgeable about the concept of knowledge management in this ministry that finally 18 people were selected as the sample using purposive sampling method. The method of data collection is mixed. In the qualitative section, using in-depth interviews and theoretical saturation method, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the knowledge management system in the Ministry of Sports and Youth were identified based on the KAFRA model and a research questionnaire was prepared based on this. Content validity and reliability of the questionnaire were confirmed by experts and Cronbach's alpha coefficient, respectively. Then, in the quantitative part, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to calculate the weight and importance of each of the identified criteria and sub-criteria. The results showed that threats in the Ministry of Sport and Youth are the most important ones, followed by weaknesses, strengths and opportunities. Lack of adequate laws to protect the knowledge-based organization was identified as the most important threat, which indicates the need to pay more attention to the legal infrastructure of knowledge management.