Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1
Department of Sports Management, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
2
Master's student in Sports Marketing Management, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran
3
PhD student in sports management, Allameh Tabatabai University, Tehran, Iran
4
Department of Sports Management, Faculty of Sports Sciences, Allameh Tabatabai University, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract
E-leadership has become the norm as remote working tools have become relatively accessible and inexpensive for organizations, which has increased the capabilities of remote working. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of e-leaders in the sports industry. In the nature of the study, the researchers adopted an interpretive paradigm to answer the research questions. The target population for this study was managers who had at least one year of virtual leadership experience in their sports organizations within the geographical boundaries of Iran. As a result, after conducting 12 interviews, three more interviews were conducted to ensure data saturation. Finally, 15 managers in the sports field participated and were interviewed as participants in this study. The data collection tool was interviews. An inductive method was considered for data analysis and theme generation. To determine the reliability of the data, the criteria of Guba and Lincoln (1994) including validity, transferability, confirmability, and reliability were used. The main themes obtained from the interviews were as follows; Knowledge sharing, motivation, need for humanization, ease of access, skill improvement. In line with the data set, e-leaders need to bring the human element back into their interpersonal relationships as a means to ensure greater connection, and motivation among their virtual teams. In addition to being aware of the specific problems that virtual teams may face, such as limited exposure to knowledge sharing and learning opportunities, reduced motivation, and reduced communication, leaders need to examine the unique challenges they face as an e-leader.
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