Kenon A. Brown

• Ph.D., Mass Communications
• Professor (Assistant) at University of Alabama

To better understand factors that influence news credibility and online sharing likelihood of artificial-intelligence (AI) -generated articles, a national survey of U.S. adults was conducted ( N = 355). Using a 3 (authorship) × 2 (byline) factorial design, participants were asked to evaluate the credibility of a sports-news article written by a hum...

When considering that athletes are becoming more vocal about their beliefs related to social justice initiatives, the role of an athlete’s gender could have an impact on how sports fans view that athlete. When deciding to support or oppose a corporate social advocacy initiative, it can be argued that an individual’s perception of an athlete’s or te...

Understanding of esport from a communicative perspective is offered, covering the history, expansion, and operationalization of esport, while highlighting five main areas to bolster the understanding of communication-based esport scholarship. First, theories that are often used for explaining the phenomenon of esport are explored. This section give...

The purpose of this study is to determine if perceptions of violence related to race, gender and sport will impact audience reactions to domestic violence issues involving an athlete. Specifically, this study will examine how these elements of an athlete’s identity could affect his/her perceived image when faced with domestic violence accusations....

The NBA’s (National Basketball Association’s) racial justice initiatives during the 2020 Playoff Bubble are considered an act of corporate social advocacy and provide an exemplary scenario to explore this intersection of sport and politics. Based on this observation, the purpose of this study was to explore how one’s level of identification with th...

This study investigated the relationship between stakeholder enacted crisis communication and organizational crisis response. Through textual analysis, the reputation repair strategies that head coach Urban Meyer utilized in his four public statements regarding the Zach Smith scandal were identified. Next, 10,000 tweets from Ohio-based stakeholders...

Following Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey’s social media post advocating for Hong Kong independence, a 2 (NBA, Houston Rockets) × 3 (attacking the accuser, justification, apology) experimental design was utilized to explore the effects of different crisis response strategies on sports fan relationships between/among a professional sport...

A national sample of 390 self-identified National Basketball Association (NBA) fans were asked motivational differences regarding use of four unique forms of social media information offerings: team-managed, media-managed, fan-managed and player-managed outlets. While entertainment emerged as the top motivational factor across all four offerings, m...

In order to properly evaluate crises that occur in sports, scholars have previously called for a sports-specific crisis communication typology (Wilson, Stavros, & Westberg, 2010). Two studies were conducted to develop the resulting typology. Study 1 utilized a questionnaire to obtain a comprehensive list of sports-related crises that were later gro...

This study uses social presence theory and social identity theory as theoretical frameworks to examine global social TV usage during a mega-sporting event. A total of 2,296 people from six different nations (Canada, China, Germany, Japan, Sweden, and the United States) were surveyed about their social TV usage, degree of social presence, and team i...

Surveying 2,245 people from six nations immediately following the conclusion of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, this study focused on the extent to which fan identification can predict media consumption and nationalistic feelings toward one’s country. Findings revealed that, while sport fanship, fanship toward the Winter Olympics, and fandom for one...

This study explored causal relationships and moderation effects in the context of the National Football League (NFL; American football), employing 732 respondents from a pair of nationally representative samples to determine the degree of similarity or difference between feelings about the United States as it relates to American consumption of the...

In this study, we explored the perception of sports based on gender norms in China. Applying social cognitive theory, we surveyed 423 Chinese respondents about their gender perceptions of 16 sports. Results revealed four distinct categories—masculine, lifestyle, neutral, and feminine—and that men tended to rate sports as significantly more masculin...

This study analyzed how depictions of White and Black recruits by ESPN network employees differs depending on athletic successes, failures, personality, and physicality. A total of 42 hr of ESPN college football National Signing Day (NSD) coverage (2015–2018) was analyzed with results indicating sportscasters who covered NSD largely did not differ...

The purpose of this study is to empirically examine key factors (i.e. the type of athlete transgression, the team’s history with athlete transgression) within the SCCT framework in a sports context, while also examining the use of SCCT-recommended response strategies to repair a team’s image when facing athlete reputational crises (ARC). A sample o...

Issues of reputation management are negotiated in a wide array of contexts, yet arguably one of the most visible of these areas involves how such stories unfold within the sporting arena. Whether involving individual athletes, teams, organizations, leagues, or global entities, the process of navigating issues of image repair and/or restoration and...

A survey of 2,296 people from 6 nations (Canada, China, Germany, Japan, Sweden, and the United States) deciphered uses and gratifications for consuming content on a variety of media platforms during the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games. Results indicate that media diets significantly differed by platform and device, all 16 uses and gratificati...

This fragmentation of Olympic media is a fascinating trend to explore on an international level to examine if there are similarities in how citizens of different countries consume Winter Olympic media. Another curiosity is the amount of entertainment value different media platforms add to the experience of the Winter Olympics. Using an internationa...

A national sample of 393 NFL (National Football League [professional]) fans were surveyed about their use of ancillary devices when consuming NFL media products. Results indicate that male, younger, and highly educated participants were more likely to use second-screen options. Such second-screen activities were just as likely to be used for distra...

Nationalistic notions are embedded within every part of the Olympic Games, inculcating feelings pertaining to one’s nation. Previous research examined the degree to which one is affected by portrayals of nationalism during international sporting events, finding that media consumption and results increase nationalistic feelings. However, such analys...

Purpose By placing race at the center of this study via critical race theory, we sought an explanation for a practical problem: what can explain the small number of underrepresented racial and ethnic practitioners in the PR industry? We focused on the undergraduate environment as a pipeline to the profession. Our goal was to determine if issues of...

Given Slovenia’s independence in 1991, examining the potential impact of Olympic media consumption on this young nation offers a unique opportunity for scholarly investigation. Prior examinations of Olympic telecasts in Slovenia have uncovered core elements of nationalized pride and focus (Ličen & Billings, 2013a), yet have not fully explored the p...

We interviewed racially/ethnically diverse, early career public relations practitioners. By asking participants to reflect on their collegiate social and educational development, we unearth contributing factors to these individuals’ success both in college and in their professions to date. Respondents desired much more in-school training and techni...

This study focuses on comparing the uses sought and gratifications obtained when consuming media related to eSports and traditional sports; in doing so, relevant areas of overlap and distinction are ascertained. In all, more than 1,300 American eSports participants were queried as to their interest in both eSports and traditional sports fan/followe...

A survey of 291 Australians before and after consuming varied levels of Olympic media revealed key relationships between national identity, psychological connections to the Olympic Games, and media consumption of the Rio Games. The desire for nationalized emulation significantly predicted televisual media consumption; and the desire for nationalize...

As sports media evolves, it becomes more integrated. The mobile sport consumption only blurs these lines further, as fans may be finding “information” they do not regard as platform or outlet-specific. A survey of 199 sports fans reveals differences in the uses sought and gratifications from three forms of sports news social media offerings: (a) of...

This study expands the empirical study of Benoit’s image repair theory by serving two purposes using a sports context. First, this study will specifically examine criminal transgressions by comparing the effectiveness of image repair attempts by athletes facing domestic violence charges compared to other crimes. Second, this study will look at the...

While the 2016 Summer Olympics was still the most watched program all 17 nights during NBC's coverage, the decline in overall television viewership could be a sign of audience migration to other platforms to consume Olympic content. Because understanding if motives for displaying national identity and motives for spectating sport could play a role...

To determine how consumption team performance (winning/losing) affects fan identification and subsequent nationalism traits, a national survey of 720 respondents was conducted at four different time periods throughout the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Using structural equation modelling, increased consumption significantly predicts fan identification toward...

A total of 1025 respondents from the USA and Germany were asked questions about Olympic media consumption, fan involvement, and nationalized feelings over four data collection points before, during, and after the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games. Nationalized qualities across four factors (patriotism, nationalism, smugness, and internationalism) var...

This study examines the extent to which an athlete’s race impacts the image repair process within media-filtered athlete transgressions by utilizing a 5 (race) × 3 (response strategy) factorial experiment and employing Benoit’s (1995) image repair typology. Reponses from a national sample of 215 participants revealed that, independent of race, the...

This study seeks to build on the body of knowledge surrounding athlete endorsement by examining the impact of Benoit’s image repair strategies on endorser trustworthiness, attitudes toward a brand, and purchase intention. An experiment was designed to test participants’ reactions to a statement made by an athlete that responded to a transgression u...

This study examined the Penn State sex abuse scandal by applying traditional crisis communication strategies, usually invoked by an organization, to the online communication of the university’s active stakeholders, sports fans. Previous findings suggest sports fans will act on behalf of an organization during a crisis. Yet, the tweets of Penn State...

Social identification–based theories (fan identification and nationalism) were used to delineate whether degrees of sports fandom and/or national identity are significant predictors for television consumption of the 2014 Fédération Internationale de Football Association World Cup. A national survey of 490 respondents was conducted at three differen...

Utilizing a 2 (race) × 2 (sex) × 3 (response strategy) factorial experiment, this study interrogates the extent to which an athlete’s race and gender impacts the image repair process, specifically within the hypermediated realm of athlete transgressions. Using a national sample of 287 participants, results supported for the effectiveness of the mor...

A total of 1,025 respondents from six nations (Australia, Bulgaria, China, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and the United States) were surveyed about their media use and nationalized feelings in the week immediately following the London 2012 Olympics. These results were then tested in relation to the relative successes of each of the six nations within...

A total of 525 U.S. respondents participated in a survey of nationalized attitudes surrounding four qualities (patriotism, nationalism, internationalism, and smugness) and their relationship to Olympic media consumption. Four data collection points were used: three months prior to the Sochi Games, immediately before the Opening Ceremonies, immediat...

Through the use of a 2 × 3 factorial experiment, the researcher examined the effects of response strategies on an athlete’s perceived image after they provide a response when faced with a criminal or a noncriminal transgression. Results showed that the attacking the accuser strategy was just as effective as the mortification strategy in the repair...

To measure relationships between Olympic media viewing and nation-based attitudes, 6 nations (Australia, Bulgaria, China, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and the United States) were surveyed in the 5 days immediately after the 2012 London Olympics. A total of 1,025 respondents answered questions pertaining to four measures of nationalism: patriotism, na...

This study investigated the effects of crisis response strategies on the attribution of an organization’s crisis responsibilities and relationship quality outcomes and determined the linkages among relationship quality outcome indicators. This study found that none of the tested crisis response strategies were helpful in reducing public blame surro...

Past studies have shown how international events such as the Olympic broadcast tend to favor athletes from a home nation in terms of both the amount of time devoted and the descriptions ascribed to home-nation athletes. This study highlights the ramifications of this focus on nationalism within the 2012 London Olympic telecast. A survey of 342 resp...

This study intended to develop a reliable and valid measure of organizational crisis responsibility that could be uniquely applied to public relations research. The three-dimensional measure was constructed using rigorous two-step pilot tests and a nationwide panel full administration survey. The constructed measures were further refined using expl...

This study looks at LeBron James’ “The Decision” broadcast in light of the effects it had on James’ image and evaluates potential steps to his image repair. The researchers review the previous literature on apologia theory and image repair, discuss LeBron James’ “decision” in particular, and conduct an experiment that will illustrate...

The study examines how relationships with an organization and crisis response strategy affect attribution of crisis responsibility. Participants were exposed to 1 of 4 different crisis response strategies, manipulated through news articles. The study measured perceptions of the organization–public relationship, and after exposure to 1 of the 4 news...