Page Center Graduate Student Lab Group

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Lab Group Faculty and Students

Lab Group Alumni

Jiaqi (Agnes) Bao, assistant professor, University of South Dakota
Megan Norman, senior research manager, Big Valley Marketing
Christen Buckley, assistant professor, Temple University
Jin Chen, assistant professor, Virginia Commonwealth University
Adrienne Darrah, assistant teaching professor, Penn State College of the Liberal Arts
Pratiti Diddi, assistant professor, George Mason University
Carlina DiRusso, assistant professor, Clemson University
Nicholas Eng, assistant professor, University of Waikato
Jason Freeman, assistant professor, Brigham Young University
Virginia Harrison, assistant professor, Clemson University
Nahyun Kim, assistant professor, Drexel University
Olivia Reed, assistant professor, Coastal Carolina University
Cassandra Troy, assistant professor, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Michail Vafeiadis, associate professor, Auburn University
Anli Xiao, assistant professor, University of South Carolina

Group of six students and faculty pose in front of a sign that reads 26th International Public Relations Conference

Conferences

Research that is conducted within the Page Center Lab Group is often shared with scholars, practitioners, and the public, at conferences such as IPRRC, AEJMC,NCA and ICA.

: - Wu, Y., Cardona, L., Buckley, C., Xiao, A., Eng, N., & Overton, H. (2026). When the past persists: Why crisis history matters in corporate social advocacy. IPRRC.

- Wu, Y., Zhang, L., Zhao, A., & Alayoubi, R. (2026). When advocacy backfires: Mitigating moral outrage in corporate social advocacy. IPRRC.

- Xiao, A., Wu, Y., Vafeiadis, M., & Overton, H. (2026). Examining information processing and advocacy intentions among CSA supporters and opponents. IPRRC.

- Hua, P., Alayoubi, R., Iorio, G., & Eng, N. (2026). Laughing at crisis: The influence of public mocking responses on crisis perception and corporate reputation. IPRRC.

- Flaker, L., Adeeko, T., & Cortes, N. (2026). When outrage strikes: Managing the public’s moral outrage through the lens of the triadic appraisal of crisis communication. IPRRC.
: - Alayoubi, R., Norman, M., Troy, CLC., Bao, J., & Bortree, D. (2025) Tell Me More: Curiosity and Engagement with CSR Messages. IPRRC.

- Wu, Y., Cardona, L., Eng, N., Buckley, C.L., & Overton, H.K. (2025). When the Past Persists: Why Crisis History Matters in Corporate Social Advocacy. IPRRC.

- Xiao, A., Vafeiadis, M., & Overton, H.K. (2025). Examining Information Processing and Advocacy Intentions Among CSA Supports and Opponents. IPRRC.

- Wu, Y., & Overton, H.K. (2025). Examining the Impact of Corporate Social Advocacy Argument Quality and Reputation on Activism Intention: An Elaboration Likelihood Model Approach. AEJMC.

- Alayoubi, R., Norman, M., Troy, CLC., Bao, J., & Bortree, D. (2025) Tell Me More: Curiosity and Engagement with CSR Messages. AEJMC.
: - Reed, O., Eng, N., Hua, P., Goke, M., Wu, Y., Vafeiadis, M., & Bortree, D. (2024). Navigating a social media influencer crisis: Crisis response strategies and the mediating effects of identification, authenticity, emotions, and reputation. IPRRC

- Buckley, C., Norman, M. L. P., Troy, C. L. C., Yang, Y., Bao, J., Overton, H., & Jung, Y. (2024). Storytelling, AI, and transparency in public relations for social change. IPRRC.

- Diddi, P., Vafeiadis, M., & Bortree, D. (2024). The role of religiosity and self-transcendent emotions in Situational Theory of Problem Solving (STOPS). IPRRC.
: - Darah, A. (November, 2023). An examination of professional fundraising in accordance with resource dependence and stewardship theories [paper presentation]. National Communication Association Conference, National Harbor, MD.

-Bortree, D. S., Eng, N., Chen, J., Berndt, M., Reed, O., & Kurniasari, T. (August, 2023). Health influencers: How influencer type and sponsorship disclosure influence perceptions and intended behavior [poster presentation]. AEJMC, Washington, D.C.

- Eng, N., Reed, O., Berndt, M., Chen, J., Kurniasari, T., & Bortree, D. (2023). Health influencers: How influencer type and area of expertise influence source credibility, message trust, and intended behavior on social media. IPRRC.

- Harrison, V. S., Vafeiadis, M., & Overton, H. (2023).“In this day in age, you have to stand for something”: Examining source effects and fan reactions to the NBA’s corporate social advocacy (CSA) statements. IPRRC.

- Overton, H., Vafeiadis, M., Bhalla, N. Buckley, C., (2023). The Medium is the Message: Testing the Effect of Corporate Social Advocacy (CSA) Messages and Call-to-Action Statements on Advocating Behavioral Intentions. IPRRC.
: - Bortree, D., Kim, N., Eng, N., Dardis, F., Darrah, A., Freeman, J., & Vafeidadis, M. (2022). Promoting environmental responsibility: A big data examination of corporate digital communication on UN Sustainable Development Goals themes. IPRRC.

- Bortree, D., Troy, C., Eng, N., Pietruszewski, M., & Freeman, J. (2022). Improving environmental legitimacy: A test of CSR and CSA environmental messages. AEJMC.

- Dardis, F., Buckley, C., Xiao, A., Heaton C., Mitra P. (2022). Improving Nonprofit Engagement on Social Media: Using Big Data, Machine-learning, and Sentiment/Emotion Analysis to Evaluate Leading NPO Message Strategies. IPRRC.

- Eng, N., Troy, C., & Bortree, D. (2022) Symbolic and substantive legitimation: Examining corporate commitments to sustainable development goal 12. NCA.

- Harrison, V. S., Overton, H., & Vafeiadis, M. (2022). Should athletes take a stand on controversial issues? Examining athlete activism, parasocial relationships, and athlete-cause fit. AEJMC.

- Overton, H., Harrison, V., Eng, N., & Kim, J. (2022). Are we legit? Measuring perceptions of organization, issue, and actional legitimacy across CSR partnership types. IPRRC.
: - DiRusso, C., Buckley, C., Diddi, P., Dardis, F., Vafeiadis, M., Eng, N. (2021). Designing effective corporate social advocacy campaigns using issue salience, emotional intensity, and emotional valence. AEJMC.

- Eng, N., DiRusso, C., Troy, C., Freeman, J., Liao, M., & Sun, Y. (2021). “I had no idea that greenwashing was even a thing”: Identifying the cognitive mechanisms of exemplars in greenwashing literacy interventions. AEJMC.

- Harrison, V., Vafeiadis, M., Diddi, P., Buckley, C., & Dardis, F. (2021). Corporate social responsibility for nonprofits: The roles of short-duration partnerships, commitment, satisfaction, and mission accomplishment. ICA.
: - Eng, N., Chen, J., Freeman, J., & Dirusso, C. (2020). Testing the efficacy of carbon footprint calculator messaging on climate action: An emotion-as-frames approach. Communicating Science, Health, Environment and Risk Division, AEJMC.

- Kim, N., Harrison, V. S., Diddi, P., Vafeiadis, M., & Bortree, D. S. (2020). Issue-oriented approach to understand the public’s supportive behavioral intentions for nonprofit organizations. IPRRC.

- Madden, S., Kim, N., Buckley, C., Freeman, J. (2020). The intersection of expertise and social media influence: Theorizing the need for social media “influectuals”. AEJMC.

- Vafeiadis, M., Harrison, V., Diddi, P., Dardis, F. & Buckley, C. (2020). How CSR partnerships affect nonprofit organizations (NPOs): The mediating role of consumer-brand identification, CSR motives, and NPO social objective achievement. AEJMC.
: - Bortree, D. S., Harrison, V., Buckley, C., Vafeiadis, M., Yang, G., Freeman, J., Kim, N., & Gessner, J. (2019). Countering misinformation on social media: How stakeholders’ attitudes and behavioral intentions are influenced by source and supporting evidence of the rebuttal message. IPRRC.

- Bortree, D.S., Vafeiadis, M., Diddi, P., Gessner, J., Harrison, V., & Chai, Y. (2019). The role of self-transcendent emotions and empathy in motivating communication about social and environmental issues. AEJMC.

- Harrison, V. S., Buckley, C., & Xiao, A. (2019). Donation experience and advocacy: extending the organization-donor relationship model. ICA.

- Xiao, A., Harrison, V. & Buckley, C. (2019). Volunteer motivation fulfillment: The antecedents and outcomes. AEJMC.
: - Harrison, V. S., Vafeiadis, M., Diddi, P., & Conlin, J. (2018). What about our cause? The influence of corporate social responsibility on nonprofit reputation. AEJMC.

- Vafeiadis, M., Bortree, D.S., Buckley, C., Diddi, P. (2018). Combatting fake news: Examining the role of crisis response strategies and issue involvement in refuting misinformation on social media. AEJMC.
: - Formentin, M., & Bortree, D. S., (2017). Giving from the heart: Exploring how ethics of care emerges in corporate social responsibility. AEJMC.

- Harrison, V., Xiao, A., Ott, H., & Bortree, D. S. (2017). Calling all volunteers: The role of stewardship and involvement in volunteer-organization relationships. ICA.

- Huang, Y., Bortree, D. S., Yang, F., & Wang, R. (2017). Encouraging volunteer retention in the nonprofit organizations: The role of organizational inclusion and volunteer need satisfaction. ICA.
: - Bortree, D. S., Xiao, A., Yang, F., Wang, R., Wu, M., Huang, Y., Li, R., (2016). Credibility and deception in native advertising: Examining awareness, persuasion, and source credibility in sponsored content. AEJMC.

- Wu, M., Huang, Y., Li, R., Bortree, D. S., Yang, F., Xiao, A., Wang, R. (2016). A tale of two sources in native advertising: Examining the effects of source credibility and priming on content, organizations, and media evaluations. IPRRC.

- Xiao, A., Huang, Y., Bortree, D. S., (2016). Fundraising on social media: how message concreteness and framing influence donation outcomes. AEJMC.

Awards

: 2022 Institute for Public Relations W. Ward White Awards for Top Three Papers of Practical Significance
Overton, H., Harrison, V., Eng, N., & Kim, J. (March, 2022). Are we legit? Measuring perceptions of organization, issue, and actional legitimacy across CSR partnership types. Manuscript presented at the 25th International Public Relations Research Conference. Orlando, Florida, USA.
: Literati Award for Outstanding Paper
Vafeiadis, M., Bortree, D.S., Buckley, C., Diddi, P. and Xiao, A. (2020). Refuting fake news on social media: Nonprofits, crisis response strategies and issue involvement. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 29(2), 209-222. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-1...
: 2020 Lori Eason Award for Graduate Student Research
Eng, N., Chen, J., Freeman, J., & Dirusso, C. (August, 8, 2020). Testing the efficacy of carbon footprint calculator messaging on climate action: An emotion-as-frames approach.* Paper presented to the Communicating Science, Health, Environment and Risk Division at the 103rd Annual Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Conference. (Virtual Conference)
: Brigham Young University Top Ethics Paper Award.
Wu, M., Huang, Y., Li, R., Bortree, D. S., Yang, F., Xiao, A., Wang, R. (2016). A tale of two sources in native advertising: Examining the effects of source credibility and priming on content, organizations, and media evaluations. IPRRC.

Second Place Top Paper Award – PRD
Xiao, A., Huang, Y., Bortree, D. S., (2016). Fundraising on social media: how message concreteness and framing influence donation outcomes. AEJMC.

Top Paper Award – PRD
Bortree, D. S., Xiao, A., Yang, F., Wang, R., Wu, M., Huang, Y., Li, R., (2016). Credibility and deception in native advertising: Examining awareness, persuasion, and source credibility in sponsored content. AEJMC.

Publications

: - Norman, M., Troy, C. L. C., & Choi, S. I. (2026). Visualizing corporate crisis response: Effects of exemplars in food recall and chemical spill messaging. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1108/CCIJ-0...
: - Overton, H., Vafeiadis, M., Diddi, P., Buckley, C., & Dardis, F. (2025). Examining the impact of corporate social advocacy (CSA) issue ownership and message content on authenticity perceptions and behavioral intentions. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 30(7), 21-43. https://doi.org/10.1108/CCIJ-05-2024-0080

- Zhao, W., Rachwalski, A., Berndt-Goke, M., & Jin, Y. (2025). An examination of management of AI-triggered organisational threats from communication practitioners' perspective. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 33(1). https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5973.70031

- Troy, C. L. C., Buckley, C., Al Rawi, A., Kim, N., Vafeiadis, M., & Overton, H. (2025). When Employers Speak Out: Examining Effects of Corporate Social Advocacy Through Belief Match, Organizational Identification, and Authenticity. Management Communication Quarterly, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/08933189251321506

- Troy, C.L., Eng, N., & Overton, H.K. (2025). Corporate support for the sustainable development goals: Effects of symbolic and substantive communication. Public Relations Review, 51. 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102545

- Overton, H.K., Vafeiadis, M., & Harrison, V.S. (2025). “In this day and age, you have to stand for something”: Examining organizational advocacy issue choice and spokespeople in sport. Journal of Communication Management, advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCOM-1...

- Kim, J.K., Overton, H.K., Wu, Y., Noland, C., & Moon, W. (2025). Enhancing corporate social advocacy support: Self-efficacy, response efficacy, and collective efficacy as drivers of CSA behavioral intentions. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 53(6), 513-535. doi:10.1080/00909882.2025.2551324

- Buckley, C.L., Norman, M., Troy, C.L., Yang, Y., Bao, J., Overton, H.K., & Jung, Y. (2025). AI disclosure in strategic CSR communication: Examining the impact of narratives, source labels, message transparency, and organizational perceptions on behavioral intentions. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 19(5), 696-719. https://doi.org/10.1080/155311...

- Vafeiadis, M., Dardis, F.E., Diddi, P., Overton, H.K., & Buckley C.L. (2025). Saying the right things to the right audience: The influence of message strategy and consumer demographics on reactions to corporate social advocacy (CSA) communications. International Journal of Business Communication, advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/232948...

- Xiao, A., Huang, Y., Bortree, D. S., & Waters, R. D. (2025). Designing social media fundraising messages: An experimental approach to understanding how message concreteness and framing influence donation intentions. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 51(4), 832–856. https://doi.org/10.1177/089976...

- Bortree, D. S., Vafeiadis, M., Diddi, P., & Harrison, V. (2025). The role of self‐transcendent emotions and empathy in motivating nonprofit audiences toward social and environmental issues. Journal of Philanthropy, 30(3), e70023. https://doi.org/10.1002/nvsm.7...
: - Eng, N., Sun, R., Meng, J. and Neill, M.S. (2024), "Promoting employee well-being and commitment in communication industries", Journal of Communication Management, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCOM-02-2024-0037
: - Eng, N., Troy, C. L. C., Bortree, D. S. (2023). Symbolic and substantive legitimation: Examining corporate commitments to sustainable development goal 12. Journal of Communication Management. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCOM-06-2022-0075

- Troy, C. L. C., Norman, M. L. P., Eng, N., Freeman, J., & Bortree, D. S. (2023). Effects of climate CSA and CSR messaging: The moderating role of green consumer identity. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 28(6), 873-892. https://doi.org/10.1108/CCIJ-02-2023-0019

- Harrison, V. S., Vafeiadis, M., Diddi, P., Buckley, C., & Dardis, F. E. (2022). Understanding how corporate social responsibility partnership factors influence nonprofit supportive intentions. Public Relations Review, 48(5), 102184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2022.102184

- Harrison, V. S., Vafeiadis, M., Diddi, P., & Conlin, J. (2022). The impact of CSR on nonprofit outcomes: How the choice of corporate partner influences reputation and supportive intentions. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 27(2), 205-225. https://doi.org/10.1108/CCIJ-02-2021-0020
: - DiRusso, C., Buckley, C., Diddi, P., Dardis, F. E., Vafeiadis, M., & Eng, N. (2022). Designing effective corporate social advocacy campaigns using valence, arousal, and issue salience. Public Relations Review, 48(3), 102207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2022.102207

- Eng, N., Buckley, C., & Peng, R. (2022). Tracking the path of the green consumer: Surveying the decision-making process from self-transcendent values to supportive CSR intentions. Sustainability, 14(3), 1106. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031106

- Harrison, V. S., Vafeiadis, M., Diddi, P., Buckley, C., & Dardis, F. E. (2022). Understanding how corporate social responsibility partnership factors influence nonprofit supportive intentions. Public Relations Review, 48(5), 102184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2022.102184

- Harrison, V. S., Vafeiadis, M., Diddi, P., & Conlin, J. (2022). The impact of CSR on nonprofit outcomes: How the choice of corporate partner influences reputation and supportive intentions. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 27(2), 205-225. https://doi.org/10.1108/CCIJ-02-2021-0020
: - Eng, N., DiRusso, C., Troy, C., Freeman, J., Liao, M., & Yuan, S. (2021). “I had no idea that greenwashing was even a thing”: Identifying the cognitive mechanisms of exemplars in greenwashing literacy interventions. Environmental Education Research, 27(11), 1599-1617. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2021.1976732

- Harrison, V., Buckley, C., & Xiao, A. (2021). The roles of donation experience and advocacy: Extending the organization-donor relationship model. Journal of Communication Management, 25(1), 85-103. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCOM-06-2020-0057

- Formentin, M., Bortree, D.S., & Kim, N. (2021). The big assist: exploring nonprofit practitioner beliefs about sport CSR relationships. Journal of Sports Media 16(2), 133-163. http://doi.org/10.1353/jsm.2021.0006

- Vafeiadis, M., Harrison, V. S., Diddi, P., Dardis, F., & Buckley, C. (2021). Strategic nonprofit communication: Effects of cross-sector corporate social responsibility (CSR) alliances on nonprofits and the mediating role of social-objectives achievement and consumer brand identification. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 15(4), 275-292. https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2021.1945610
: - Vafeiadis, M., Bortree, D.S., Buckley, C., Diddi, P. and Xiao, A. (2020). Refuting fake news on social media: Nonprofits, crisis response strategies and issue involvement. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 29(2), 209-222. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-12-2018-2146

- Huang, Y., Bortree, D. S., Yang, F., Wang, R. (2020). Encouraging volunteering in nonprofit organizations: The role of organizational inclusion and volunteer need satisfaction. Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing, 32(2), 147-165. https://doi.org/10.1080/10495142.2019.1589624
: - Xiao, A., Hilton, E., & Mohammed, W. F. (2019). A critical analysis of corporate social responsibility in Ghana’s telecommunications industry. Communicatio: South African Journal of Communication Theory and Research, 45(3), 4-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/02500167.2018.1552601
: - Harrison, V. S., Xiao, A., Ott, H. K., & Bortree, D. (2017). Calling all volunteers: The role of stewardship and involvement in volunteer-organization relationships. Public Relations Review, 43(4), 872-881. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2017.06.006
: - Wu, M., Huang, Y., Li, R., Bortree, D. S., Yang, F., Xiao, A., & Wang, R. (2016). A tale of two sources in native advertising: Examining the effects of source credibility and priming on content, organizations, and media evaluations. American Behavioral Scientist, 60(12), 1492–1509. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764216660139

A group of seven graduate students pose with two faculty members in front of a sign that reads Arthur W. Page Center

Lab Group Faculty and Students

Denise Bortree

Holly Overton

Lab Group Alumni

Conferences

Awards

Publications

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