Identification of the Components of a Model for Developing Professional Ethics and a Culture of Accountability in the Management System of National Sports Federations

Abstract

The present study aimed to identify and explain the components of a grounded model for developing professional ethics and a culture of accountability in the management system of national sports federations. This applied-developmental study employed a qualitative grounded theory design based on the systematic approach of Strauss and Corbin. Participants consisted of university professors in sport management, current and former sports federation managers, federation secretaries-general, ethics committee members, and experts in inspection, performance evaluation, legal affairs, organizational accountability, and sport governance. Participants were selected through criterion-based purposive and theoretical sampling, and data collection continued until theoretical saturation was achieved after 15 semi-structured interviews. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed concurrently with data collection using constant comparison. Data analysis was conducted through open, axial, and selective coding. Trustworthiness was established through credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability procedures, while intercoder agreement for selected interviews reached 89.81%. The analysis yielded a paradigmatic model comprising causal conditions, the central phenomenon, contextual conditions, intervening conditions, strategies, and consequences. The central phenomenon consisted of professional ethical orientation and active accountability. Deficiencies in ethical leadership and weak accountable governance emerged as causal conditions. The institutional context of sport and the social environment of sport were identified as contextual conditions, whereas organizational sustainability and executive infrastructure functioned as intervening conditions. The main strategies were the institutionalization of ethics and the systematization of accountability. The principal consequences were organizational effectiveness, social capital, and sport development. The selective coding process showed that ethical leadership deficiencies and weak accountable governance create the need for stronger professional ethics and accountability, while contextual and intervening conditions shape the implementation of related strategies and their organizational and developmental outcomes. Developing professional ethics and a culture of accountability in sports federations requires an integrated governance approach that combines ethical leadership, transparency, stakeholder responsiveness, organizational stability, specialized capacity, ethical learning, and systematic management of managerial commitments.