Providing a Marketing Influence Network through Influencers in Sports Tourism Promotion

Subject Areas : Sport Sciences Quarterly

zahra vakili ghahani ¹ , mahvash noorbakhsh ^{2 *} , Abbas Khodayari ³ , پریوش نوربخش ⁴

1 -
2 - Professor of Sports Management Department, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran
3 - Karaj Islamic Azad university
4 - مدرس دانشگاه ازاد واحد کرج

Received: 2024-06-29 Accepted : 2024-08-16 Published : 2025-05-18

Keywords: Digital influencers, Influencer marketing, Social media, Sports tourism, Thematic analysis.,

Abstract :

The purpose of this study was to provide a marketing influence network through influencers in the promotion of sports tourism. The research method employed was qualitative, utilizing a thematic analysis approach. The participants in this study consisted of sports tourism stakeholders. The sampling method was purposive, employing a snowball strategy, and a total of 15 interviews were conducted. Data collection was carried out through semi-structured interviews, and the credibility and reliability of the results were assessed using strategies such as credibility, transferability, confirmability, and audit trail. Data analysis was conducted using thematic analysis based on the proposed framework by Braun and Clarke (2006). From the analysis of the conducted interviews, 57 core themes, 12 organizational themes, and 6 pervasive themes emerged, including performance expectations, facilitating conditions, perceived benefits, influence and arousal, effective audience engagement, and audience inclination towards influencers. These findings indicate that marketing through influencers in sports tourism promotion is a process that begins with facilitating conditions and culminates in audience inclination towards influencers.

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