Abstract

Summary
This work aims to identify and prioritize the factors involved in the human capital (HC) development in Iran's sports production firms using the multi-criteria analysis and the Copland's approach. This work follows a practical application and uses a descriptive-survey design. The research population of this work consists of 107 experts from the Iran's sports production firms. The sampling method is purposive.
Introduction
At the company level, human capital (HC) should be considered as a resource that can be used in order to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. Based on the HC theory, it is the individuals with different knowledge and skills that create an economic value. There is a convincing evidence that the HC knowledge is essential for the discovery, creation, and exploitation of corporate entrepreneurial opportunities. Therefore, the level of knowledge, experience, and merit of the managers and employees in a company helps to provide HC through formal education, business experience, practical learning, and informal education.
Methodology and Approach
The data was collected using a research-made questionnaire. After confirming the content validity of the questionnaire using the opinions of 10 experts in the field of sport management, the reliability of the questionnaire was obtained using the Cronbach's alpha coefficient (α = 0.89). The factors involved were initially identified and then ranked using various models of multi-attribute decision-making with excel2013 and expert choice11. As the results obtained from the above-mentioned models did not conform to each other in some cases, an integrated model called the Copland approach was used in order to reach a general consensus in ranking the obstacles to the factors involved in the HC development.
Results and Conclusion
The ranking results obtained from the Copland technique revealed that the three main factors involved in the human capital development have attracted the human resources with a high level of expertise and knowledge, creating and using an integrated knowledge management system, and using experienced managers and staff with experience, respectively. According to the results of this research work, using the correct factors provided from the development of HC such as the use of skilled, experienced, and knowledgeable human resources, we will see more efficiency of this valuable resource in the Iran's sports production firms by improving the performance of these companies to provide the necessary ground for the further improvement of the Iranian sports industry.

Keywords

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