The effect of the use of information and communication technology skills with empowerment indicators on staff in the Ministry of Sports and Youth of Islamic Republic of Iran

Information and communication technology (ICT) is one of the most important areas of development in the world. The purpose of this study was to survey the effect of the use of ICT Skills with empowerment indicators on staff in the Ministry of Sports and Youth of Islamic Republic of Iran. This study was an applied research and its method was descriptive correlational. The statistical population of this study was all staff in Youth and Sports Departments of Guilan Province. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was reported above 0.90 in both questionnaires. The collected data were analyzed by K-S test and Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficient. The results showed that 59.43% of subjects were men and 40.57% of them were women and 90.10% of them were married, and 9.90% were single. The bachelor’s degree (49.82%) had the highest mean of academic education and doctorate (35.0%) had the lowest mean. The performance improvement index (4.461) had the highest mean and job variety (3.851) had the lowest mean among variables. Therefore, it is suggested that high level managers of the Ministry of Sports and Youth can empower their staff through the creation of a climate for staff’s more participation of ICT, the sufficient freedom for job responsibilities, the allow for the creativity and innovation, and the attention to low level staff’s comments and suggestions.


Introduction
ICT has been able to be a component of modern society during a short period of time, so that the understanding of ICT along with reading, writing, and counting, and the mastery of basic skills and concepts have been considered as a part of the core of these societies in many countries 1 .Also, human resources should understand that the lack of ICT will lead to inequality in the use of instructional opportunities.The depth of these inequalities has huge differences between the advanced and developing countries.Societies that have no or less ability to use technology are steadily moving back from the participation in a society that moves based on science and technology 2 .ICT is considered as one of the most important areas of development in the world.Many countries in the world consider the development of information technology as one of the most important infrastructures of their development.The integration key of ICT in organizations is the qualifications of ICT and its experiences, so that its skill depends on its professional qualification 3 .Today, the role and effect of ICT is obvious for everybody.In other words, it can be argued that information technology is used for the coordination of affairs and environmental changes commensurate with the community, the thinking speed, the optimal utilization of resources, and the transformation of lifestyle 4 .It must be admitted that today, ICT is a set of hardware, software, and thoughts that facilitates the flow and efficiency of information, so that ICT at the international level has become a powerful force in social and economic 5 , political, and educational developments 6 .On the other hand, many countries and regions of the world do not make any progress without the joining to the era of ICT 7 .It can be stated differently that many of the efforts in the field of ICT in different academic departments have been unsuccessful because the production of thought and creativity 8 , the coordination with this changes, and the creation of novel changes require special training capability using ICT tools 9 .Today, the world is a world with enormous transformations and the imagination of the future without the support of ICT seems unlikely.In the last decade, we have seen the revolution of information and communication, so that this century has been called ICT.Information technology is creating a new revolution all over the world that has created new and significant capacities in the field of human knowledge and it has created tools that have changed the nature of work and life and this has led to widespread developments in all social and economic areas of humanity 10 .Today, we can observe the ascending and amazing growth in the rate of changes through ICT and the increase of staff's knowledge and awareness level in sports organization.The most important and effective advantage of the use of ICT is to reduce the information poverty in the society, making a variety of information and knowledge available, and the increase of the awareness level of public in the society.According that the next century is the century of information and the coordination of the information society, this can contribute to the efficiency and effectiveness of the community in the reduction of information poverty and the development of a comprehensive information in the society 11 .Information technology is a tool in staff's hands to increase their ability, but this tool is the main goal in many organizations and staff focus on the use of technology 12 .On the other hand, any organization that ignores this issue will decline due to the rapid growth of information and communication technologies and the need of organizations for their survival in today's era.Today, the attention to this technology is inevitable and necessary to achieve the goals of the organization 13 .In this regard, employees of state institutions are considered as the resources of the organization and it is necessary to pay attention to them in order to achieve the goals.Staff will be able to do their job properly with the proper information and information and communication technologies will provide this opportunity to process and maintain information 14 .We can find with a look to the past that a human has used information technology since the creation till now.The diversity and development in information technology began in the late twentieth century.The most important feature of information technologies is that those continuously increase their technological capabilities and reduce the cost of their use.At the moment, the investment in this sector is dramatically rising, so that the cost of the purchasing of technological products is more than 50% of the costs of an organization in the United States 15 .Today, government organizations of the country require changes in their activities and online services in accordance with the growth of information technology.The provision of fast and up-to-date services has an important place in goals of an organization and staff that are the human capital of an organization must also keep their goals in line with the goals of an organization and lead to the improvement of productivity in an organization in the direction of the synergy of forces and talents.Therefore, the enhancement of staff's capability level of this organization about information and communication technologies is the inevitable requirement 16 .The emergence and adoption of ICT has accelerated the transformations of the world in the age of information and knowledge and affected the different areas of life in societies.ICT is an important issue for the developing countries to improve the productivity and the quality of life 17 .The adoption of ICT is a powerful and effective tool for developing countries in the world and plays a decisive role in executive organizations such as Youth and Sports General Directorate 18 .Government organizations have invested heavily in the use of ICT due to their capabilities that ICT has in the creation of value for them.One of the most important values that organizations can create in their subsystems using these technologies is the empowerment of their subsets with the use of these tools.successful managers use these technologies to develop their staff's capabilities in order to achieve the goals of the organization due to the potential abilities of ICT to meet the needs of the organization in this field 19 .Empowerment means that we simply encourage individuals to play a more active role in their work, so that they take responsibility for the improvement of their activities and can make key decisions without referring to a top responsible 20 .The staff's empowerment has led to specific attitudinal and behavioral outcomes for organizations and enhances their ability to compete in both internal and external environments.The staff's empowerment is an important strategic for the development of different organizations to adapt to external changes and is one of the main issues of organizations.This has led that successful organizations using different tools and mechanisms try to provide empowerment programs for a subset 21 .Successful managers use these technologies to develop their staff's capabilities to achieve the goals of the organization due to the potential ability of ICT to meet staff's needs in this field 22 .The creation of a balance between empowerment and ICT, the provision of background for the maintaining, recording, and transmission of a part of staff and managers' valuable experiences to new employees, the prevention of staff's gradual burnout and the gradual burnout of organization, the avoidance of costs due to staff's lack of awareness from the developmental plans of organization, the conflict or challenges of organization and the continuous improvement of the organization, the balance between powerful staff's needs and needs of the organization, and the use of opportunities and the prevention of waste of human capital and resources are the part of a set of reasons that can be considered for the importance of these two variables in this study.Therefore, the purpose of this study was to survey the effect of the use of ICT Skills with empowerment indicators on staff in the Ministry of Sports and Youth of Islamic Republic of Iran.

Methods
This study was a descriptive correlational research that has been conducted through field method.

Participants
The statistical population of this study was all staff in Youth and Sports Departments of Guilan Province (N= 310).The statistical sample was equal to the statistical population.According to Morgan's table, 175 people completed the questionnaire.

Instruments and Tasks
The instrument of this study was included a demographic questionnaire, the Organizational Citizenship Behavior Questionnaire, and the Perceived organizational support questionnaire.The questionnaires were distributed among a number of experts (N=15) to determine the validity of questionnaires and the accuracy of the questions. the questionnaires were distributed in the statistical population after the reassuring of the obtained result.The reliability of the questionnaires was also calculated using Cronbach's alpha method.Cronbach's alpha coefficient was reported in both questionnaires above 0.90 for the survey of the reliability of the measurement instrument of this study.The ICT questionnaire included 15 items.Its questions were gathered based on Davis's technology acceptance model (Questions 1-3), Chan and Huff's Information Systems Model (Questions 4-10), and Dinev and Koufteros's Internet Self-Efficacy Model (Questions 12-15).Researchers' a valid and combined questionnaire was also used to assess sports teachers' empowerment components.35 questions were identified in the teachers' empowerment questionnaire.7 questions from Spreitzer's psychological empowerment questionnaire, 10 questions from Robbins's job satisfaction questionnaire, 5 questions from Paterson's job performance questionnaire, 1 question from Scott and Jaffe's climate empowerment questionnaire, 6 questions of Whetten and Cameron's empowerment questionnaire, and 6 questions from Neefe's organizational learning questionnaire were used in this study.

Procedure
The purpose and the process of this study were explained to subjects.The participants were assured that their data will be kept confidential and those will not be available to anyone.Then all subjects completed a consent form to participant in this study and they attended with the complete satisfaction in this study.The researchers distributed the questionnaires among the subjects.Then, subjects completed the questionnaires.

Data Analysis
The collected data were classified by descriptive statistical methods and were analyzed by K-S test and Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficient.The SPSS software (version 23) was used for data analysis (α≤0.05).

Results
The descriptive results of this study showed that 90.10% of subjects were married and 9.99% of them were single.The bachelor's degree (49.82%) had the highest mean of academic education and doctorate (35.0%) had the lowest mean.The performance improvement index (4.461)had the highest mean and job variety (3.851) had the lowest mean among variables.52.65% of staff had a formal contract-agreement and 47.35% of them were contract staff.34.98% of staff had studied the field of physical education and sport sciences and 65.02% of them had studied other fields.

Discussion
The purpose of this study was to survey the effect of the use of information and communication technology (ICT) Skills with empowerment indicators on staff in the Ministry of Sports and Youth of Islamic Republic of Iran.The results of this study showed that there was a significant relationship between ICT skills and staff's empowerment indicators.It can be inferred that the development of ICT, especially the Internet has created new conditions in the world and it has had many positive and immediate effects on the behaviors, skills, relationships, and social interactions, especially in staff of a government organization in the executive section.The infinite increase of information has led to that the organization, record, and storage of information be more complex and the access to them be more difficult day to day 23 .ICT have become the main focus of human' s attention with the daily change in the hardware and software technology, globalization, competitive stress, the need of an organization for expert staff and their familiarity with the methods of technology, the lack of need for individuals' physical presence at workplace, the need of an organization for the improvement of its staff's efficiency and effectiveness, the development of the scope of information flow and its effective contribution in the decisionmaking, planning, and the hierarchy of most large government organizations.Therefore, the computer science, storage, retrieval, volume of information, and human knowledge were mixed and information technology was formed 24 .ICT helps staff to be aware of their life.They learn about the role of ICT in daily life and become familiar with similar tools of information technology and use these tools independently and in a group.They become familiar with different methods of information gathering, organization, and presentation that affects their performance, so that todays, the type of human's activities in organizations has been transformed into intellectual work with the development of technology and automation tasks 17 .The results of this study was consistent with the results of Jafari and Azmoon 7 ; Nemamyan and Emami 14 ; Nadifard and Shahtalabi 13 ; Choi, et al. 25 ; Dewettinck, et al. 22 ; and Srivastava, et al. 's 20 study.It is suggested to avoid the traditional views and methods of training due to the rapid changes in the field of ICT and these methods are continuously evaluated from several points for the continuous optimization and updated trainings in this regard.It can be said in the explanation of this approach that the greatest effect of technology may has been on human relationships in the 21st century and with the advancement of the technology world and humans anywhere on the planet can communicate with each other with the help of this technology 26  the effect of information technology on their social, personal, occupational, and civic life due to it is becoming more widespread in the society.Technologies such as computers, mobile phones, the Internet, multi-media, and other popular media have affected the appearance and inner aspects of human life in the current era.These massive informationcommunications developments have rebuilt the cultural and social context of the society and have had a deep effect on the existential dimensions of the community 11 .According to the results of the results of this study, it is recommended that the staff announce their information needs and shortcomings in the field of ICT to the authorities to enrich their information load.Also, honorable authorities develop and reform infrastructure structures and provide the necessary facilities for the development of computer literacy among students.The results of Goktas' s 27 study showed that the lack of access to computers, the low speed of Internet, the lack of access to resources in the area of residence are identified as the most important problems in using ICT.ICT is an approach that can be more effective than any other method in staffs' efficiency and it can also meet the needs of an organization with the consideration of training opportunities and facilities better than any other system.ICT uses all factors that play the important role in the process of productivity and tries to create a desirable organizational conditions in terms of goals and intentions through the precision design of factors 28 .The correct use of ICT can have a deep positive effect on staffs' engagement and positive attitudes and the facilitation of executive affairs.Therefore, ICT as an effective resource and a way for the quick sharing of information in today's society can be effective to increase empowerment skills in a society 29 .On the other hand, information technology can also be effective on daily communications and play a role of the facilitator.Also, the emergence of technologies can develop the range of human communications in all fields.The subject of ICT and empowerment has been the subject of debate among researchers of technology field, so that it has affected staffs' knowledge, attitudes, values, and coverings in recent decades 30 .Today, the ascending and amazing development of the rate of changes is observable due to ICT and an increase of the human's knowledge and awareness.The most important and effective advantage of using ICT is to reduce information poverty in the community and make information and knowledge available and increase public awareness of the community.Therefore, this can play an important role in the reduction of information poverty and the development of the inclusive information in the society and the efficiency and effectiveness of the community 7 .the investment and the application of hardware and software of new technologies and its use for information storage are not the emphasized issue in the information society, especially in the executive section of government organizations, but the most important issue is learners' empowerment to achieve selfleadership skills in the learning.An administrative system for the creation of the place of ICT in its system needs to examine the needs of this technology in the interactions of its infrastructures 31 .In other words, it should be possible to identify and explain the role of ICT in the quantitative and qualitative development of the executive field due to the recognition the place of ICT in the country bureaucracy, but we should not expect the extraordinary results in the short term of ICT in the administrative culture 7 .The traditional structure and process does not meet the needs of the human community in the information age of the new millennium, because the knowledgebased is the contemporary human's greatest goal.Therefore, we must find opportunities that would enrich the outcome of the training process, because the illiterates of the new century are not individuals who cannot read and write, but they are who do not know how to learn.The use of training technologies using new methods will enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of administrative systems 32 .

Conclusion
Generally, the implementation of in-service trainings in accordance with the knowledge of the present era and the work areas can help to staffs' self-efficacy in the Ministry of Sports and Youth of the ministry due to the reinforcement of competence sense and the development of staffs' required skills, abilities, and skills in the Ministry of Sports and Youth to prepare them to meet possible work challenges.We can also reinforce the determination of each employee's role in the Ministry of Sports and Youth and their activities in achieving the goals of the organizational departments by managers, the strengthening of the control sense over the administrative and operational consequences in staff, and the development of the staffs' capabilities to align the environment with their demands through the implementation of training courses for the organizational upgrading.high level managers of the Ministry of Sports and Youth can empower their staff through the creation of a climate for staff's more participation of ICT, the sufficient freedom for job responsibilities, the allow for the creativity and innovation, and the attention to low level staff's comments and suggestions.

Table 1
The status of subjects' age.

Table 2
The status of subjects' gender.

Table 3
The results of variables distribution (Normality of data).

Table 4
The results of ICT data and empowerment components.

Table 5
The results of Spearman correlation coefficient.

Table 6
The results of Pearson correlation coefficient.