Enhancement Mechanisms and Configuration Pathways for Elevating the International Discourse Power of China’s Sports Academia: A Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis

Enhancing the international discourse power of sports academia holds significant importance for strengthening China’s influence and leadership in the global sports landscape. Employing qualitative research and fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), this study systematically investigates the enhancement mechanisms and practical pathways for advancing the international discourse power of China’s sports academia. The study reveals that six core elements—content of sports academic discourse, academic contributions of sports scholars, disciplinary development level in sports, discourse carriers in sports academia, quality of sports academic communication, and institutional support for sports disciplines—jointly drive the formation and elevation of international discourse power through their interactions. Building on these mechanisms, three configuration pathways are proposed based on dominant conditions: discipline-led, scholar-led, and communication-led approaches. In practice, targeted efforts should prioritize the dominant conditions of distinct configuration pathways, emphasize synergistic complementarity among them, and thereby achieve holistic advancement and elevation of the international discourse power of the country’s sports academia.