Design of an Analytical Model for Iranian Taekwondo Elites’ Awareness of the Components of a Personal Brand Image

Background. Today, management and development of sports brands are not only limited to sports goods, teams and leagues, but also recognized by professional and elite athletes. Objectives. So, the purpose of the present study is to analyze awareness of the components of personal brand image of male and female national team athletes and Taekwondo elite players of Iran. Methods. This study is applied and descriptive-analytical in terms of the purpose, and survey in terms of methodology. The statistical population of this study included all Iranian elite male players with a history of attending national teams. The sample size was considered as population by census and finally 150 persons formed the final sample of the study. The standard questionnaire of personal brand image of Safar et al. (2016) was used for data collection. The validity of the tool was confirmed by sport management experts and its reliability was confirmed by Cronbach’s alpha of 0.87. Results. The descriptive and inferential statistics (second-order factor analysis) at the significant level of 0.05 were used to analyze the data. The results showed that among the factors that constitute the brand image, skill and style of competition had the most influence. The results also showed that the knowledge of Taekwondo elite about the components of personal brand image is at a desired level. Conclusion. According to the results, careful consideration and understanding of moral factors, skills and consulting with sports marketing and branding specialists are among the cases suggested for forming and developing a desired personal brand image for Taekwondo national and elite players.