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PurposeThis paper aims to identify factors that affect the sports tourism destination's competitiveness on a small island. Hence, this study looks at and evaluates these factors. The study then comes up with a model that clarifies the interrelationships between these factors.Design/methodology/approachThe authors broke down the data analysis process into three steps. The first step was to conduct a literature review and use industry and academia experts' help to determine the essential aspects (fuzzy Delphi method). Then, a hierarchical model was developed, and the factors were categorised using the interpretive structural modelling (ISM) approach. Factors' driving and dependency power were also determined using MICMAC analysis.FindingsThis work has identified 13 key factors related to the sports tourism destination's competitiveness on a small island. For a small island like Kish Island, the two independent variables (government support and destination political stability) that define the institutional framework for the destination are most important. Building corresponding competitive and support strategies to address these two independent variables is thus beneficial.Research limitations/implicationsThe research's results provide decision-makers, practitioners, and researchers with new insights into the hierarchical model of determinants. The study will fill the existing gap between theory and practice.Practical implicationsSports tourism destination managers on small islands may benefit from the proposed model since the model will enable them to organise the managers' priorities better to enhance the managers' destinations' competitiveness and provide tourists with a more accurate depiction of the destination.Originality/valueAccording to the authors' knowledge, the research design presented in this article has provided the first attempt to hierarchical analyse these factors and develop a model for sports tourism destination competitiveness on small islands and destinations with less-developed economies. This study fills the gap in the destination competitiveness and sports tourism literature by not only identifying the key influencing factors but also examining the interactions between these factors and providing empirical evidence supporting their relationships.

In this study, we determined the causal relationship between some of the predictors and outcomes of sports tourists’ satisfaction using structural equation modeling. Motivation and involvement as p...

Leisure behavior and its associated factors are complex and manifold. The present study sought to investigate the effects of serious leisure (perseverance, effort, career, identity and ethos) and r...

A large number of students do not exercise their recommended daily physical activities to achieve the health benefits related to the physical activity. Self-determination theory can provide a framework for investigating the students’ motivational processes in physical activity. Therefore, this study was conducted aiming at identifying the personal factors (needs and motivational factors) affecting the physical activity of students of Medical Sciences University of Iran on the basis of self-determination theory. The method is a qualitative research of content analysis type conducted by a deductive approach. Participants included a wide range of Iranian experts in the field of physical activity as well as the University students and the theoretical saturation was achieved by conducting 21 interviews personally with experts and 2 focus groups with students. Samples were selected by snowball sampling method and students by simple random sampling method, then divided into the focus groups. Interviews were collected in semi-structured form by enjoying the theory constructs. While collecting, data were simultaneously analysed manually. Findings reflected the identified themes of SDT levels and with regards to the remarks given by participants on reviewing the needs and motivations affecting the students’ physical activity, 11 main categories were elucidated; i.e. pleasurable social interactions, physical and anatomic capabilities, successful history of physical activity, understanding the self-efficacy, choice limiting and predisposing features, gaining pleasure, improved status of physical and mental status, social cognition, financial reward and perceived personal barriers, and also 35 subcategories were also identified as below, which were incorporated on the main levels of self-determination theory. Hence, the self-determination theory can be applied as an appropriate framework for investigating the motivational levels and facilitating the students’ physical activity to plan and implement the proper general interventions.

Increase in people participation in Sport for all has always been considered by policy makers. This paper aims to present a model to institutionalize sport for all of Iran. For this purpose, researchers referred to the experts of the sport for all of Iran and collected data from them through deep interviews. Then, the data resulted from twenty-nine interviews were encoded and analyzed through grounded theory method. The results of codes classification showed sixteen components at the three contextual, organizational, and behavioral levels. According to the sport for all of Iran model, it can be noted that the contextual level of sport for all of Iran, in which the other two levels are rooted, includes external environment and conditions, and generally leads to organizational and behavioral levels. The presented model can be used as the analytical tool for sport for all of Iran so that it would solve problems of this field of sport reasonably and principally.