Dr. Bredikhina, born in Moscow, Russia, is an STHM alumna, receiving her PhD in Business Administration and Sport Management at Temple University in 2023 after earning her MBA and Master’s in Sport Business Management at the University of Central Florida College of Business Administration. Before specializing her studies in Sport Management, she received her Bachelor’sdegree in Individual Studies from the University of Maryland. As of last year, Dr. Bredikhina is an Assistant Professor in Sport Management at the Alfred Lerner College of Business & Economics at the University of Delaware.
Before transitioning to a conference-style presentation on a recent study she completed, Dr. Bredikhina delivered a generalized job talk-adjacent presentation for the SIRC PhD students in attendance, recognizing their imminent entrance into the job market. Looking to instill familiarity with structures used in a professional setting, she recognized and prioritized the development of SIRC’s young scholars.
Dr. Bredikhina’s recent research contribution, Exploring the Role of Dialogical Appeals in User Engagement with Micro-Celebrity Athletes on Social Media, analyzes the extent to which dialogical appeals are an effective method for building community and garnering engagement on social media. In this context, dialogical appeals occur when micro-celebrity athletes issue a call to action to their followers, most commonly by asking for comments or posing a question to begin a dialogue. This study seeks to determine whether this approach is truly a net positive for athlete micro-celebrities or whether the risk of appearing inauthentic ultimately causes more harm than good.
Using a three-study design, Dr. Bredikhina shared three key takeaways. First, after conducting a content analysis, it was found that dialogical appeals resulted in increased comments at the expense of fewer likes. The following experimental design uncovered two crucial predictors of engagement intentions, that being perceived account interactivity and athlete brand authenticity. The final study reinforced these findings while additionally recognizing the large role promotional intent plays in creating balance between interaction and engagement. Through Dr. Bredikhina’s work, the sport management industry will recognize that dialogical appeals have a direct impact on the perceptions and engagement behaviors of an athlete micro-celebrity’s social media following.
In all, SIRC is incredibly proud of Dr. Nataliya Bredikhina’s contribution to sport management literature as well as her cumulative success in the industry. Thank you also to the Tourism & Sport Ph.D. Concentration for collaborating with SIRC to allow her to make her insightful presentation possible.