Presenting the model of environmental factors affecting the key decisions of senior sports managers

Extended Abstract
Introduction
Decision-making is the most important and fundamental task of every manager at all organizational levels. In fact, the fate of organizations depends on the status and conclusions of managers, and every action taken by a manager is a type of decision-making. Regarding sports organizations, it should be noted that today, sports are considered a complex social phenomenon, the impact of environmental factors on which is undeniable, because the environment is the context in which social phenomena occur and are affected by and influenced by environmental factors. Therefore, the task of sports institution decision-makers is to integrate the organization with the environment. To do this, they must analyze the internal and external environment of the organization and, through organizational strengths and weaknesses and environmental opportunities and threats (SWOT), they can help improve the organization's competencies by making effective decisions (29). By reviewing articles and research related to the research topic, it is clear that studies have been conducted on the factors affecting managers' decision-making, but most have focused on internal factors of the organization, and a limited number have focused on environmental factors. The same small number have also examined other organizations and bodies, and no research has been conducted on managers of sports organizations. Therefore, we are conducting this research to answer the question of what environmental factors affect the decision-making of senior managers of sports organizations?
Methods
The present study is applied in terms of purpose and is a mixed research type. The method of this qualitative research is Glaser type. The main data collection tool is the study and review of research literature as well as interviews. The study area of ​​the present study is the Ministry, General Departments and Sports and Youth Departments. The statistical population of the research is academic staff members specializing in the field of research, experienced managers and experts in the field of sports. In this study, the selection of participants is theoretical (snowball technique). During interviews with 16 people, the research data reached the saturation stage. After axial coding and after discovering the concepts, they are confirmed using structural equation modeling in the Smart PLS software environment. The statistical population at this stage is university professors and managers and experts in the field of sports. 300 people were considered as a statistical sample.
Results
The first step of the Glaserian approach was the open coding stage, in which 64 codes (including the elimination of duplicate and overlapping codes) were identified in this stage. In the second step, selective coding, similar codes were placed together and subcategories (15 subcategories) were formed, and subcategories that were related to each other were given a title at a higher abstract level, which resulted in the main categories, which in this study were 7 main categories (political, economic, technological, legislative, socio-cultural, competitors, global developments). After that, the identified concepts are confirmed based on structural equation modeling, which, according to the obtained values, strongly confirms the model fit.
Conclusion
These external factors that were discussed have different impact coefficients. Some factors have more impact and some have less impact. However, they all have an impact in some way in this matter, and as mentioned at the beginning, environmental factors can play an important role in managers' decision-making, and not knowing environmental factors prevents them from reaching the right and acceptable decision. If sports managers want to be successful in their decision-making, it is recommended that they recognize and consider these factors.