THE ROLE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL AND ETHICAL LEADERSHIP IN SPORTS INDUSTRY PERFORMANCE: THE MODERATION EFFECT OF PERCEIVED ENJOYMENT AMONG IRAQI PLAYERS

Abstract

The performance of any nation's sports sector is contingent on the players' output during the game, as measured by their response to competition, abilities, skills, and behavior toward accomplishments. Despite the sports ministry's efforts, the performance of Iraqi soccer players has dropped in recent years due to several unknown variables. This study attempts to identify the psychological issues and investigate the influence of psychological capital, ethical leadership, and perceived enjoyment that contributes to the performance of the soccer business. The study's objectives include assessing the relationship between psychological capital and how it influences players' performance, the role of coaches' ethical leadership skills in encouraging players to perform better, and the influence of perceived enjoyment on the performance of the sports industry. In addition, perceived satisfaction is a moderator between exogenous and endogenous factors. Using simple random sampling, this quantitative study collected data from soccer players in Baghdad, Iraq, and clubs to estimate the performance of the sports industry. Using Smart-PLS 4 to analyze the obtained data, the study determined that psychological capital and perceived enjoyment influence the performance of the sports business, thereby confirming the significance of hypotheses H1 and H3. The influence of ethical leadership on the success of the sports business was determined to be insignificant. Hence hypothesis H2 is rejected. In addition, the moderation effect between the variables was clear, and hypotheses H4 and H5 were accepted. The study's conclusion proposes policies and tactics for the sports industry to perform better in competition. Limitations and future research paths are also mentioned.