Published in Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 2026
Using a human-AI collaboration pipeline, we revealed how entertainment, politics, and athletic frames shaped warmth and competence judgments of Trump’s Break 50 appearance, advancing theory while offering a scalable, replicable way to study user-generated content.
Published in Sport Management Review, 2024
Drawing on LLMs (transfer learning), we analyzed Tripadvisor reviews to identify the key drivers of exceptional college football game day experience.
Published in Communication & Sport, 2024
Our research examined how different content creator tiers on X framed and influenced engagement during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Through text mining, we identified three key themes—athletic achievements, international participation, and geopolitical implications—with distinct engagement patterns across creator levels.
Published in Journal of Business Research, 2022
Our research examined how gamification impacts viewer engagement in esports livestreaming through an online survey. The findings revealed that immersion and socialization features significantly enhanced viewer engagement, with distinct gender preferences: females responded more strongly to immersive elements, while males were more influenced by social features. These insights provide platforms with clear direction for optimizing their gamification strategies to enhance viewer experiences across different audience segments.
Published in Sport Management Review, 2021
We explored the NFL’s Thursday Night Football co-streaming partnership with Twitch, examining how video game personalities influence viewer engagement. The findings revealed that co-streaming fit and virtual interactions significantly drive continued viewership, with streamer expertise having particularly strong impact among highly identified viewers. This study provides valuable insights for sports organizations seeking to leverage social live streaming platforms for enhanced fan engagement through personalized commentary and interactive experiences.
Published in European Sport Management Quarterly, 2020
We utilized a mixed methods design to develop the Motivation Scale for Esports Spectatorship (MSES). The findings revealed unique motivational factors specific to esports viewing—skill improvement and vicarious sensation—alongside traditional viewing factors like competition excitement and social bonding. By examining platform-specific features such as first-person views and chat interaction, this study provides stakeholders with a validated framework for understanding and enhancing viewer engagement in the expanding esports market.
Published in NASSM2025, San Diego, CA, 2025
This study analyzes audience evaluations of Donald Trump’s appearance in Bryson DeChambeau’s Break 50 YouTube series, revealing how entertainment, political, and athletic frames elicited distinct, nuanced stereotypes of warmth and competence across social media platforms. For more details, please refer to the presentation slides.
Published in The 58th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), Big Island, HI, 2025
This study examined public perceptions and stakeholder dynamics of esports at the 2023 Asian Games through LLM-enhanced topic modeling. The findings revealed that while esports’ inclusion as a medal event helped legitimize competitive gaming, strategic social media marketing and cross-subcultural collaborations were crucial for building mainstream acceptance. This study provides valuable insights into how major sporting events can effectively integrate esports while managing public perception and stakeholder engagement.
Published in Sports Technology and Innovation Symposium, Washington, DC., 2024
Our research examined baseball fans’ reactions to Automated Ball-Strike technology through analysis of Reddit posts and comments. The findings revealed three key dimensions of authenticity that influenced fan acceptance: nostalgic (traditional elements), procedural (game mechanics), and community (shared experiences). This study provides valuable insights into how sports organizations can effectively balance technological innovation with preserving the game’s essential character, ultimately enhancing our understanding of technology’s role in modern sports engagement.