The Effect of Team Identity on Student loyalty Through Motivation

Positive thoughts and helpful behaviors of individuals in the workplace and with organizational groups, in which most of their daily work activities take place, create a certain identity in addition to organizational identity with their work unit, which is called team identity. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the role of team identity in sports loyalty mediated by motivation at the level of managers and heads of units of Islamic Azad University. The present study was applied in terms of purpose and its data were collected in the field and a questionnaire. The statistical population of this study included 285 officials of physical education departments of Islamic Azad universities of Iran. The statistical sample of this research is 162 people. Variables were measured by questionnaires: team identity of Wendick et al. (2008), motivation, Gayo (2007) and loyalty, Karuna (2002). To analyze the data, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to check the normality of the distribution of variables and correlation test was used to test the research hypothese. Finally, the structural equation model (SEM) and SPSS and LISRL software were used to test the conceptual model of the research. Findings showed that the team identity component has a significant effect on customer motivation and consequently on customer (student) loyalty. Findings also showed that motivation has a significant effect on student loyalty. The results indicate that the team identity of managers and heads of physical education departments of Islamic Azad universities of Iran as one of the most important factors determining the success of the Azad University in today's competitive environment in attracting students should be seriously considered.