Developing a Digital Governance Framework for the Iraqi Sports System
Keywords:
National volleyball team, sporting success, national identity, Iraqi youth, national pride, social solidarityAbstract
Objective: This study aimed to develop a structural framework for digital governance in the Iraqi sports system by identifying key components, validating them through expert consensus, and determining their hierarchical relationships.
Methodology: This applied, descriptive-analytical study employed an exploratory sequential mixed-method design. The study population consisted of academic and executive experts in sports management, information technology, digital transformation, public administration, and sports policymaking in Iraq. A total of 25 experts were selected through purposive and snowball sampling. Data were collected using researcher-developed Fuzzy Delphi and ISM questionnaires. In the first stage, the preliminary indicators were evaluated using triangular fuzzy numbers and screened based on a defuzzification threshold of 0.70. In the second stage, pairwise relationships among the confirmed components were assessed through the Structural Self-Interaction Matrix, final reachability matrix, and ISM level partitioning. Driving and dependence powers were also examined using MICMAC analysis.
Findings: The Fuzzy Delphi analysis confirmed 10 principal components. Digital leadership and strategic orientation achieved the highest defuzzified score of 0.933, followed by data governance and data-driven decision-making at 0.927 and technological infrastructure and digital access at 0.920. The ISM analysis produced a seven-level hierarchical model, with digital leadership and strategic orientation positioned at the foundational level and digital sports services and innovation at the highest outcome level. MICMAC analysis identified digital leadership, the legal-regulatory framework, technological infrastructure, human capital, and data governance as the main driving factors, whereas interoperability, transparency and accountability, stakeholder participation, and digital services were classified primarily as dependent factors.
Conclusion: Digital governance in the Iraqi sports system is a multi-level and systemic process that should begin with strategic digital leadership and be supported by legal, technological, data-related, human-resource, and cybersecurity capacities before progressing toward interoperability, transparency, stakeholder participation, and innovative digital service delivery.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Meysam Rahimizadeh, Thamer Ali Hassan Halbousi, Amir Hossein Monazami (Author)
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