Abstract
Quantitative data will be done through existing literature research reviews. The survey will target 180 participants sampled from various sporting activities across Saudi Arabia. Data analysis will be done using descriptive statistics, while variances in responses rate will be analyzed using inferential statistics and presented through tables, graphs, and charts. The study expects to find out the key factors behind the robust increase in sports marketing in Saudi Arabia. The findings will assist various sectors of Saudi Arabia’s economy in implementing policies for improving sports marketing in line with Vision 2030.
Summary
The Saudi Arabia Vision 2030 was introduced to address various policy issues such as income creation, economic development, entertainment, and investment. Sports marketing has been used to achieve most of these objectives addressed in the strategic plan (Thompson,2017). The main aim of sports marketing was to make prosperity in both the current and future generations to assist in widespread country’s economic revolution and reduce its over-reliance on mineral products.
Most recently, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia has experienced a socioeconomic transformation in which sports marketing has taken center stage in ensuring the key diversification and industrial revolution of the country are attained. According to Cerar (2017), the Vison 2030 plan is viewed as a policy changer since its desires and goals are similar to other middle east countries that have viewed sports as a key activity in fulfilling their country’s economic and social profiles the years.
Saudi Arabia hosted Formula 1, world wrestling entertainment, and other sporting activities, which improved their economy due to the huge subscriptions and taxes generated from these events. Metrics (2018) argues that the economy of Saudi Arabia has experienced a huge change in its revival since the inception of these sporting activities as they can generate more revenue from various events. However, there has been a disparity in economic development and income distribution in the country, even though they embrace sports marketing.
This research, therefore, aims at establishing the relationship between sports marketing and the introduction of the Vision 2030 strategic plan and specifically on income, economy, and investment. The study hypothesis is that there is an increase in sports marketing due to the introduction of the Saudi Arabia Vision 2030, and as such, there is a general improvement in the economy, investment, income, and entertainment across the country.
Background
Sports marketing is a discipline in marketing that focuses on promoting sporting events and other related products such as sponsorships and empowerment programs. The Saudi Arabia Vision 2030 are policy issues established to revive the economy by reducing the over-reliance on oil and other minerals. The Vision 2030 pillar has boosted the growth in sporting events in the country and supported establishing the key infrastructure necessary for economic success.
There seems to be a relationship between Saudi Arabia’s policies in the vision 2030 plan and sports marketing as the two facilitate each other. Black (2018) notes that sports marketing has recently been one of the most growing disciplines in Saudi Arabia. The aim of the sports marketing is in cohesion with the key policies in the Vision 2030 strategic plan, which aim at economic empowerment, income generation, expansion of investment opportunities, and improved entertainment activities (Al Anizi, 2018).
The most notable events in Saudi Arabia are WWE, golf championship, international handball competition, formula one races, and key international disabilities sporting events. These events have assisted the country in improving and developing most of its infrastructure and basic social amenities in collaboration with its strategic plans (Global Action Plan, 2018). In addition, there is reduced overdependence on oil as most of the leading companies in the country focus on sports marketing and promotion of the key events regularly.
The sporting events boost the country’s economy by generating an average of $2.8 billion annually from key collections and taxes, representing 25% of the country’s GDP. It is approximated that the revenue growth continues to double with each year, and there is an estimated growth rate of up to $30 billion in revenues by 2030 (Sancassiani, Machado, & Preti, 2018). In addition, the Saudi Arabian government spent over $60 million on hosting the Saudi cup, one of the world’s richest horse racing events, to boost their economy and diversify the various investment opportunities.
According to the Saudi sports ministry, the largest social improvement has been witnessed in female participation in most sports events, which has risen by more than 200% since 2015. This milestone achievement has expressed strong confidence in implementing Vision 2030 policies, including improved social protection through gender empowerment (Kinninmont, 2017). With the thriving sporting events in Saudi Arabia, there are improvements in other economic sectors, including tourism, public health, culture, and, most notably, the youth empowerment programs.
The country has been ranked amongst the first 20 largest economies globally, and it is considered one of the largest economic powerhouses in the Middle East (Cerar, 2017). Therefore, rapid sports marketing has been linked to these achievements in the country, improving the country’s market profile. The key issues arising in this development are the economic imbalance in the country and the extent to which sports marketing will improve the Saudi Arabian economy in line with its Vision 2030 objectives.
Problem Statement
Sports marketing in Saudi Arabia has risen over the recent years in line with key objectives of the Saudi Arabia Vision 2030. there have been various employment opportunities, improved income generation, increased entertainment events, and diversified investment opportunities through robust sports marketing. The implementation of Vision 2030 has encouraged a healthy and balanced lifestyle by involving sporting events in their daily activities (Black, 2018). The collaboration of Saudi Arabian government agencies with sporting activities has ensured the growth of various events and key international activities, which has led to revenue generation of more than $2.8 billion annually.
The studies conducted on the influence of sports marketing on the economy, investment, and income indicate a positive relationship between the variables. However, the impact of sporting activities is limited in achieving the national objectives since the country cannot compete globally in hosting some key events. The effect of this problem has hindered the economic sustenance and the full achievement of the Vision 2030 plan. This study, therefore, seeks to respond to the question; what is the relationship between sports marketing and the introduction of vision 2030? How does an increase in sports marketing influence the Saudi Arabian income, economy, investment, and entertainment?
Research Goal and Objectives
Research Goal
The main goal of this research is to establish the relationship between sports marketing and the introduction of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030.
Research Objectives
The specific objectives of this study include:
- To establish the relationship between the increase in sports marketing and Saudi Arabia’s economy
- To investigate the relationship between the increase in sports marketing and Saudi Arabia’s income.
- To assess the relationship between the increase in sports marketing and the Saudi Arabia investment portfolio.
- To investigate the relationship between the increase in sports marketing and Saudi Arabia entertainment.
Research Hypothesis
The research hypothesis is stated as follows:
- H1: The relationship between sports marketing and Saudi Arabia’s economy.
- H2: The relationship between sports marketing and Saudi Arabia’s income.
- H3: The relationship between sports marketing and Saudi Arabia’s investment portfolio.
- H4: The relationship between sports marketing and Saudi Arabia entertainment.
Literature Review
This section discusses the key theories of sports marketing and their relationship to the Saudi Arabian Vision 2030. The key theories are value addition theory and economic revival theory. The value addition theory argues that any activity and strategy adopted should aim at improving the lifestyle of the citizens and community as a whole. In addition, the economic revival theory proposes the revitalization of the economy through several activities aimed at reviving the key aspects of a country’s economy (McPherson, 2018).
Sports marketing is a social management process that assists a country in creating and exchanging the value of its products. Castaneda-Vazquez, (2018) conducted a study on sports exercise in the university. This study aimed to establish the relationship between sports activities and value addition to the universities in Saudi Arabia. The study applied a survey design in data collection, and respondents were chosen randomly from selected universities. The study found that most of the social improvement arose due to the sporting events held at these universities. Therefore, there was a positive relationship between sports marketing and social empowerment.
In addition, Alahmed and Lobelo (2018) conducted a study to establish the role of sports in economic and cultural development in Indonesia. The study was conducted on respondents chosen across the different sporting fields in the country. The study findings indicated that offering sports marketing has a critical role in shaping the economic power of any given country since they promote the country’s cultural, social, and economic aspects.
In line with the key policies outlined in the vison 2030 strategic plan, Saudi Arabia has continuously witnessed an economic revolution like most industries. Most of the key sectors have risen due to the sporting events and activities held in the country in recent years (McWhannell, Triggs, & Moss, 2017). The country’s investment has risen to more than $200 billion as they expand their key areas of economy and improve the exports to other countries in the global market.
Despite these studies, this discipline still lacks much information as most of the literature has supported the importance of sports marketing on the economy alone. The knowledge gap exists in studying the key factors behind improved sports marketing in Saudi Arabia since its vision 2030. In addition, the previous studies have only supported the positive relationship between the variables, and none has given a contradicting result. Therefore, the current study differs from the existing literature since it focuses on establishing the relationship between sports marketing and the objectives of Vision 2030 and establishing the root factors behind improved sports marketing.
Methodology
Research Method
This study adopts a mixed research method that combines qualitative and quantitative data. According to Sancassiani, Machado et al. (2018), studies can adopt a mixed set of data for proper analysis and interpretation when collecting two different sets of data. Therefore, the proposed method enables the researcher to link the independent variable (sports marketing) and dependent variable (Vision 2030) by establishing both quantitative and qualitative relationships between the variables.
Research Design
A research design is the reasoning that connects data being collected to the original questions. This mixed research will use a descriptive research design where a survey will be employed to develop the sample population. In a descriptive design, a researcher is interested in describing the events or situations under the survey (Alsolami & Embi, 2018). This research design is theoretical since it is created through gathering, analyzing, and presenting collected data to allow a researcher to provide insights into the reason for conducting the research.
Resource Requirements
A qualitative data collection will be done through interviews, observations, and documents to collect many kinds of communication instead of depending on a single data source. The existing literature review will collect a quantitative set of secondary data. The questionnaires will be distributed randomly to the sporting professionals across various regions in Saudi Arabia online. The surveys will be distributed via emails and other online platforms to the various sporting clubs to collect their views.
Support of Validity and Reliability
Validity refers to how a study instrument measures what it appears to measure according to the study’s subjective assessment (Kothari, 2014). Therefore, to support validity, Cresswell (2013) suggests that the product-moment correlation formula can be used to check the items listed in the research instrument. Reliability measures the degree to which a research instrument yields consistent results or data after repeated trials (McWhannell et al., 2017). Cronbach’s alpha measures the internal consistency of the instruments and tests their reliability. A Cronbach Alpha test of 0.7 and above implies a higher degree of data reliability.
Data Collection Procedure
This study will sample 180 respondents randomly from the selected sporting clubs and other organizations across the major cities of Saudi Arabia. In addition, the online surveys will be sent to the chosen organization, where club officials and other key management staff will be allowed to give their views. The interviews will be conducted using a set of questions for selected respondents. The literature review approach will sample the secondary data from existing journals, websites, and previous studies.
Sample Size
The online survey will be distributed to the chosen 180 respondents sampled randomly from the target population of 300 respondents. As Eman, EI Azab, Shereen, Elwasefy, and Hassnaa (2019) state in their study, a recommended sample should be 50% or more of the target population. Therefore, with 180 respondents, it is already above the recommended minimum number of respondents. The interview questions set will be distributed randomly to various professionals across the organizations in the Saudi Arabian major cities. The key element of the study to which the surveys aim at responding include sports marketing and Vision 2030.
Data Analysis and Presentation
The collected data will be analyzed using descriptive statistics, including the means, skewness, standard deviation, variances, and percentages. In addition, the validity and reliability of the instruments used will be determined through inferential statistics to gauge the measurability and ability of the tools to deliver a dependent outcome. The respondent’s rate will be analyzed using inferential statistics. The data will then be presented using tables, graphs, and charts.
Ethical Consideration
Before conducting this study, the researcher will seek approvals from the school for computing informatics and the regulatory body in charge of the research across the country. Administration of questionnaires from various selected state corporations will then be conducted after respondents’ consent, which will be done through an informed consent letter. This study will be carried out in strict adherence to the ethical consideration guiding plagiarism and acknowledging the extracted literature from known sources by appreciating every author extracting related literature from previous studies.
Limitations of the Study
One of the potential challenges is that currently, the world is experiencing a global pandemic of the Covid-19 virus, which has affected the overall logical industry. Therefore, moving from one destination to another for data collection would be challenging. In addition, the achievement of these key objectives of vision 2030 depends on a range of timelines since there are frequent changes in the economic situation of various countries due to inconsistency in the global market.
Therefore, the study would be undertaken for a long period to establish the key root factors behind the rapid increases in sports marketing. Finally, the expectations of the study may not be met due to limited research in this field. There seems to be very minimal information about sports marketing as most researchers have not concentrated on it so much. This challenge would affect the general conclusion and findings of the current study.
Significance of Proposed Research
The study funding will be significant to various knowledge areas, including the government, key ministries, management of the sporting clubs, and future researchers. The government of Saudi Arabia would use the recommendations from this study to develop and implement various techniques and mechanisms for improving the sports marketing field. The government would also design the best practices of ensuring thee sports activities generate more revenues for the country.
The sports ministry would also gain from the recommendation and findings of this study by implementing them in their control areas and developing plans to assist the general management of sporting activities. The management would gain from the findings since it would appropriately implement this study’s key advice and suggestions in the management terms and decision to improve their service delivery. Future researchers aim to improve the areas this study has not covered and use the suggestions available to improve their findings.
Relevance to the Department
The study aims at filling the research gaps in the marketing, accounting, and computing department. Studying sports marketing collaborates with the views of the previous researchers who have analyzed the impacts of sports in key financial and economic sectors through basic sporting techniques. Therefore, the study is relevant to the department since it adds value to the existing journals and the research gaps in the field of study. It also adds more knowledge to future researchers’ study findings to improve their areas and add more study knowledge.
Research Plan and Timeline
The expected completion timeline of this study has been developed using the Gantt diagram below:
References
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