Introduction

The heads of sports boards, as the custodians of the promotion and expansion of sports at the provincial level, play an important role in this area. Sports organization management is recognized as one of the most challenging management fields in the present era. These challenges arise from the dynamic, competitive, and emotional nature of the sports environment, which requires managers with advanced cognitive, emotional, and spiritual skills (1). In this regard, spiritual intelligence, as one of the new components of human intelligence, plays a key role in improving leadership performance, decision-making, and effective communication (1). Spiritual intelligence, unlike mere spirituality, refers to the ability to apply spiritual concepts to solve problems, adapt to change, and improve interpersonal relationships (3). This psychological construct helps managers cope with complex organizational challenges by enhancing practical wisdom, cognitive flexibility, and a deeper understanding of human interactions (4). In sports environments where competitive stress, group conflicts, and the need for team cohesion are present on a daily basis, spiritual intelligence can help managers lead their teams and organizations with a holistic, ethical, and motivating approach (5). Given the above discussions and the necessity of this issue, this section discusses research conducted in these areas. Abboud and Mohajeran found in a study that spiritual intelligence has a positive and significant direct and indirect effect on creativity and academic motivation through self-improvement (11). Omidvar and colleagues found in a study that spiritual intelligence had a positive and significant indirect effect on organizational health through Islamic work ethics. Spiritual intelligence also has a positive and significant indirect effect on organizational health through spiritual health (12). Zamani and Abdi's research entitled "The Effect of Spiritual Intelligence Training on the Growth of Spiritual Intelligence and Reduction of Aggression in Isfahan Female Volleyball Coaches" showed that there is a significant difference between spiritual intelligence in the two control and experimental groups after spiritual intelligence training, and also between aggression in the two experimental and control groups after spiritual intelligence training (13). Hashemi Mad et al., in their research entitled "Identifying the Components of Communication and Leadership Abilities of Physical Education Managers of Islamic Azad Universities Based on the Fuzzy Delphi Method," suggest, based on the seven factors affecting communication and leadership abilities, that in evaluating the communication and leadership abilities of physical education managers, multiple and multifaceted indicators should be considered and a comprehensive approach should be used for this purpose (14). In a study titled Determining the Effectiveness of Physical Activity and Exercise on the Dimensions of Spiritual Intelligence of Soldiers, Zar and Rezai concluded that there was a significant difference between the two groups of active and inactive soldiers in the subscales of critical existential thinking, personal meaning production, transcendental awareness, expansion of the state of consciousness, and the total score of spiritual intelligence. So that active soldiers had a better situation than inactive soldiers (15). The results of the study by Xu et al. showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between spiritual intelligence, emotional intelligence, academic achievement, and creativity of students (16). Ao and colleagues have pointed out in their study that one of the important approaches in communication and leadership abilities is the discourse approach in the field of communication and leadership abilities, and social participation is the most important and common effect of communication and leadership abilities (17). Weimer and Heath acknowledge in their article that communication and leadership abilities are part of how power is formed in cultural, social, and economic discourse (18).

Today, sports directors face not only common organizational challenges but also unique issues such as attracting sponsors, managing media crises, interacting with athletes and fans, and motivating teams. These complex tasks require high-level communication and leadership skills that are not achieved through technical competencies alone, but also require emotional and spiritual intelligence (6).

However, limited research has examined the role of spiritual intelligence in the communication and leadership abilities of sports directors. Studies have shown that managers with higher spiritual intelligence make more ethical decisions, have stronger interpersonal relationships, and are better able to manage conflict (7). Spiritual intelligence can also increase managers’ psychological resilience in the face of job pressures (8). Given the cultural and religious characteristics of Qom province, it is expected that spiritual intelligence in this region will have a special impact on the leadership and communication styles of sports directors. But the main question of this research is whether spiritual intelligence is related to the communication and leadership abilities of managers of sports boards in Qom province? And if so, which components of spiritual intelligence have the greatest impact on these skills? This research seeks to answer this question with a sports psychology approach and using valid models of spiritual intelligence (such as the Zohar and Marshall model) in order to provide a basis for improving management practices in sports organizations.

Method:

Research design: This research is applied research in terms of its purpose and nature. It is also descriptive research in terms of its strategy and correlational research in terms of its implementation path.

Participants: The statistical population of the research included the heads of sports boards in Qom province, who numbered 49 people. Given the limited number of people in the population, total sampling was used and 49 board heads were selected as a sample.

Instruments

King Spiritual Intelligence Questionnaire (2008)

The King Spiritual Intelligence Questionnaire was used to measure spiritual intelligence in this research. This questionnaire has 24 5-value questions and was designed by King in 2008. This questionnaire has four subscales: critical existential thinking, personal meaning production, transcendental awareness, and expansion of the state of consciousness. Critical existential thinking includes questions 1, 3, 5, 9, 13, 17, 21, personal meaning generation includes questions 7, 11, 15, 19, 23, transcendental awareness includes questions 2, 6, 10, 14, 18, 20, 22, and expanded state of consciousness includes questions 4, 8, 12, 16, 24 (19).

The validity of the spiritual intelligence questionnaire in this study was confirmed by a number of sports management experts, and its reliability was calculated through Cronbach's alpha at 0.945, which indicates the high reliability of the questionnaire.

Public Relations Questionnaire

To measure managers' public relations, the Managers' Public Relations Components Questionnaire (2019) with 30 5-value questions was used. This questionnaire has seven subscales. The media relations scale includes questions 1, 2, 3 and 4, the cultural affairs scale includes questions 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, the social relations scale includes questions 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16, the financial support scale includes questions 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21, the organizational relations scale includes questions 22, 23 and 24, the research affairs scale includes questions 25, 26 and 27 and the consulting affairs scale includes questions 28, 29 and 30 (20).

The validity of this questionnaire has been confirmed by experts and its reliability was obtained through the Cronbach's alpha test for the public relations questionnaire at 0.928, which indicates the high reliability of the questionnaire.

Data analysis

Descriptive and inferential statistics methods were used to analyze the data. In the descriptive statistics section, frequency and percentage frequency were used, and in the inferential statistics section, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to check the normality of the data distribution, and the Pearson correlation test was used at the 0.05 level to test the research hypotheses. Also, the Cronbach's alpha test was used to check the reliability of the questionnaires. Data analysis was performed using SPSS.23 software.

Results: To examine the normality of the distribution of the research data, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used. The results of this test showed that all the variables under study, including critical existential thinking, personal meaning generation, transcendental awareness, expansion of the state of consciousness, spiritual intelligence, media relations, cultural relations, social relations, financial affairs, organizational relations, research affairs, consulting affairs, and communication and leadership abilities, have a significance level greater than 0.05. This indicates that the data distribution is normal in all research variables.

Next, in order to examine the relationship between spiritual intelligence and communication and leadership abilities, the Pearson correlation test was used. The results showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between these two variables with a correlation coefficient of 0.528, which is significant at a confidence level of 0.01. This finding indicates that with increasing spiritual intelligence, communication and leadership abilities also improve in the heads of sports boards in Qom province.

Also, to determine the relationship between spiritual intelligence and various components of communication and leadership abilities, Pearson correlation test was conducted. The results indicated a direct and significant relationship between spiritual intelligence and all components of public relations, including media relations (0.746), cultural relations (0.726), social relations (0.839), financial affairs (0.652), organizational relations (0.843), research affairs (0.543), and consulting affairs (0.823). All of these relationships were significant at the 0.01 level of confidence, indicating a positive and significant effect of spiritual intelligence on various dimensions of communication and leadership abilities in the heads of sports boards in Qom province.

In general, the findings of this study indicate that spiritual intelligence is not only positively related to general communication and leadership abilities, but also has a significant and direct relationship with each of the components that make up these abilities. These results can emphasize the importance of paying attention to spiritual intelligence in improving management and communication skills in the field of sports.

Conclusion: The results of this study show that spiritual intelligence has a positive and significant effect on the communication and leadership abilities of the heads of sports boards in Qom province. This finding is consistent with previous research in the field of sports psychology and human resource management that has emphasized the role of spiritual intelligence in transformational leadership behaviors, ethical decision-making, and cognitive flexibility. By enhancing self-awareness, empathy, and the ability to resolve conflict, spiritual intelligence helps managers establish deeper and more effective relationships with various stakeholders, including athletes, sponsors, and the media. This characteristic is especially important in sports environments that are associated with cultural diversity and high emotions, because managers with higher spiritual intelligence are able to strengthen trust and team cohesion through shared values such as fairness, respect, and commitment. In the field of organizational leadership, spiritual intelligence allows sports managers to lead their teams by creating a meaningful and motivating vision that goes beyond material rewards. This ability is especially important in sensitive sports such as mass and championship sports. Managers with higher levels of spiritual intelligence also show greater psychological resilience when faced with failures or media crises and can remain calm and provide creative solutions.

To make practical use of these findings, it is suggested that special training programs be designed for sports managers focusing on strengthening spiritual intelligence components such as existential critical thinking, personal meaning generation, and transcendental awareness. Also, including spiritual intelligence measurement criteria in the evaluation and selection processes of sports leaders can lead to the selection of managers with the appropriate combination of technical skills and spiritual competencies. In addition, using the services of sports psychology consultants to help managers manage stress and interpersonal conflicts can be an effective solution.

Despite the value of these findings, it should be noted that limitations such as focusing the research on Qom province and limited samples of sports boards limit the possibility of generalizing the results. Therefore, conducting similar research in other regions with comparative cultural approaches can enrich the literature in this field. Also, examining the effect of spiritual intelligence on other psychological variables such as athletes' intrinsic motivation or employees' job satisfaction can shed light on new dimensions of the applications of this construct.

In conclusion, it can be said that spiritual intelligence is not only a competitive advantage for sports managers, but also, in the current situation, a moral necessity for leading sports organizations. This research showed that combining spirituality and leadership can lead to the creation of a healthier organizational culture and more sustainable sports performance in sports boards. Developing this ability in sports managers can be an effective step in improving the quality of management and leadership in the country's sports arena.

Conclusion

It is recommended that in order to increase the efficiency and success of the heads of sports boards in Qom province, educational and development programs be designed and implemented in the field of strengthening spiritual intelligence so that their communication and leadership skills can be significantly improved and, as a result, the overall performance of the sports boards can be improved. This approach can help increase productivity and success in sports management in the province.

Funding

This study was extracted from the Ph.D. thesis of first author at Department of Islamic Azad University. This research received no financial support from public, commercial, or non-governmental sources and is solely derived from the first author's doctoral dissertation.

Authors' contribution

All authors equally contributed to the implementation of this study, and the first author assumed corresponding.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding this study.

Acknowledgements

The authors extend their gratitude to all the athletes and coaches who patiently and attentively supported the execution of this research.