The relationship between sports diplomacy and the social courage of sports managers with the mediating role of mental health

Extended Abstract 1.Introduction Sport, because of its advantages for the winner, is another area of ​​competition and strife for nations and societies, and it is difficult for anyone to claim that sport has nothing to do with politics (2). Social courage, on the other hand, is one of the socialist behaviors of members of society, which arises as a result of individuals' attachment to their community, so that when indifference leads to the least cost and the most personal benefit, the individual's socialism for Society and its materials help to strengthen the foundations of order (5). Social courage is the preference of the collective and long-term interest in situations where such a choice is challenging; Thus, social courage is the risk-taking action of individuals in situations where the collective interest is threatened by various individual and social factors, and any socialist action to maintain it is threatened by immediate and individual interests. At the core of the definition of social courage is the interests of society (6). In addition, issues of political influence and control in sport are significant. Because sport has become more commercial and global. A set of organizational policy studies focuses on how political perceptions in the workplace shape personal and organizational outcomes in sport (8). Finally, another component that may affect social courage is mental health. This important category affects all aspects of human life and has material and immaterial values ​​for the individual and society. Mental health, feeling good, ensuring self-efficacy, competitive capacity and self-fulfillment are potential intellectual and emotional abilities (14 ). Therefore, it seems that considering the acceptability of sports and the special attention of the media and people in the community to sports, the study of the role of mental health in social courage, based on the support of sports diplomacy, is important and thought-provoking. It provided sports courage for sports managers. For this reason, the researcher is answering the question of whether there is a relationship between sports diplomacy and the social courage of sports managers with the mediating role of mental health? 2.Methods The present research is descriptive-survey and applied. The statistical population of the present study consisted of 31 sports managers from different levels of the country, from which 324 people were selected by convenience sampling. Then, 1996 Pahlang et al.'s mental health questionnaire has four subscales of physical symptoms, anxiety, social dysfunction and depression, sports diplomacy questionnaire with 5 questions and 5 components of familiarity with the world of sports, networking techniques, knowledge familiarity Economic, familiarity with political knowledge, ability to influence and social courage questionnaire with 64 questions and 6 components including understanding the situation in terms of empowerment to society, understanding the situation in terms of sense of danger, interpreting the situation, taking responsibility, ability and skill of action and decision. The final sample was distributed and collected among them. Finally, the mean and standard deviation were used to describe the data and Smart-PLS software was used to analyze the path and examine the relationship between the variables, checking the validity and reliability of the questionnaire at the level of 0.05. 3.Results The results of the present study showed that the research variables have reliability. Also, the results of Cronbach's alpha test showed that the questionnaires have the desired reliability. Also, the questionnaires have appropriate convergent validity. And the measurement model has good divergent validity (Table 1). The results of path analysis with PLS software also showed that sports diplomacy (P = 0.000, T = 7.98, b = 0.44) and mental health (P = 0.028, T = 7.73, 45. 0 = b) have a positive and significant effect on the social courage of sports managers. In addition, sports diplomacy has a positive and significant effect on the mental health of sports managers (P = 0.011, T = 15.9, b = 0.58). Finally, mental health has a positive and significant mediating role in the relationship between sports diplomacy and the courage of sports managers (P = 0.00, T = 6.94, b = 0.26) (Table 2). Finally, it was found that the structural model is of good quality. The predictive intensity of the model is strong for endogenous latent variables (Table 3). 4.Discussion The results of the present study showed that having sports diplomacy has a positive and significant effect on the social courage of managers. According to Latane and Darley, social courage consists of five continuous components: understanding the context, prioritizing the collective interest, taking responsibility for society's problems, social skills, and risk-taking. Political as well as the ability to network and the power of influence. Therefore, having sports diplomacy resulting from networking and the power of influence seems to contribute to their social courage (20,21). Managers with the power of sports diplomacy, on the other hand, are more likely than others to engage in political behavior (22). They feel responsible and take risks, so they have more social courage. Courage, on the other hand, is associated with high levels of satisfaction, hope, motivation, and low levels of anxiety and irrational fears (28). Given that the ability of sports diplomacy includes characteristics such as networking ability, penetration power and knowledge of sports and economics and politics (29). People with the power of sports diplomacy not only know exactly what to do in different social situations, but also know how to do it in order to hide any motivation for service and to interpret the work in a genuine and honest way (30). Therefore, it seems logical that the ability of sports diplomacy is higher in people with mental health. Finally, mental health has a positive and significant mediating role in the relationship between sports diplomacy and the courage of managers. People with mental health are more motivated and purposeful, so they can have more social courage, but the ability of sports diplomacy is a skill that must be acquired. Therefore, people with mental health may have the same ability as other people in the community (25). Ethical Considerations Compliance with ethical guidelines All ethical principles were considered in this article. In order to observe the ethical points in the truth, the researcher undertook to keep all the information in the questionnaire confidential. It also provides the results of the research to the respondents. Funding This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for profit sectors. Conflicts of interest The authors declared no conflict of interest