Social Responsibility of Professional Athletes during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study

According to the concept of social responsibility, since professional athletes are members of society and, like other members of society, are responsible for their environment, it is necessary for them both to improve their sportive, economic and social performance and to promote the social living standards of the people of the society. Therefore, the main purpose of the present study was to investigate the social responsibility of professional athletes during Coronavirus pandemic. The research design was qualitative and was conducted through Grounded theory Also, the statistical sample of the research consisted of fourteen athletes, experts and faculty members who underwent interview. Also, the findings were analyzed through coding method in three stages open, axial and selective, and a set of basic themes was collected during the open coding process and categories were extracted from them, accordingly. Then, in the axial and selective coding stage, the link between these categories was determined under the headings of contexts, strategies and consequences. Based on the results, nine-three marks were identified in the coding, which were placed in 20 categories. According to the results, it is suggested that top officials and decision makers in sports, with awareness of the high potential of athlete’s social influence, to plan preventive policies in relation to the critical condition of COVID-19 Pandemic and considering the social responsibility of athletes in this context, make their own decisions.