Christen Buckley Ph.D.

Research

Peer-reviewed scholarship at the intersection of public relations, ethics, and digital media

My research sits at the intersection of public relations, ethics, digital advocacy, and emerging technology. I am particularly interested in how organizations communicate about social issues, how crises spread and evolve, and how new technologies are reshaping strategic communication practice.

Research Areas

Corporate Social Advocacy (CSA)

Investigating how organizations engage in social and political issues — examining issue ownership, message authenticity, valence, arousal, and stakeholder behavioral intentions.

Crisis Communication

Exploring "crisis spillover" effects, crisis history framing, and how organizations strategically manage crises that spread across industries or stakeholder groups.

AI & Emerging Technology

Examining AI disclosure in strategic CSR communication — how narratives, source labels, and message transparency influence organizational perceptions and behavioral intentions.

Nonprofit & Public Interest Communication

Studying nonprofit crisis response, CSR partnerships, and the intersection of consumer values, CSR intentions, and prosocial communication.

Publications

Publication list synced from ORCID on 2026-10-13.

Awards & Recognition

2026 Visiting Professor Program, Association of National Advertisers’ Educational Foundation 2024 Global Fellow, The International Center, University of Florida 2023 Djung Tchoi Graduate Teaching Award 2023 Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications Davis Ethics Award 2022 Kopenhaver Center Fellow, Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver Center for the Advancement of Women in Communication (FIU) and AEJMC 2022 Invited Alumna Speaker, Paterno Fellows Program Recognition Ceremony 2021 Literati Award — Outstanding Paper, Journal of Product & Brand Management 2021 Page/Johnson Legacy Scholar Grant, Arthur W. Page Center (with Anli Xiao) 2021 Research Grant, Don Davis Program in Ethical Leadership Sidney and Helen Friedman Endowed Scholarship, 2017–2018 and 2020–2021 2016 Care2 Impact Award, Covenant House’s Not a Game campaign 2014 Internet Advertising Competition (IAC) Award for Outstanding Website

Conference Presentations

  • 2026
    Legitimizing AI through Environmental CSR: Effects on Public Attitudes and Intentions Buckley, C., Troy, C., Ryan, K., & Cardona, L. Paper, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) Annual Conference
  • 2026
    When the Past Persists: Why Crisis History Matters in Corporate Social Advocacy Wu, Y., Cardona, L., Buckley, C., Xiao, A., Eng, N., & Overton, H. Paper, International Public Relations Research Conference (IPRRC)
  • 2025
    Resisting Surveillance Capitalism: Disrupting and Repurposing AI Tools Buckley, C., & Collins, M. Paper, European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA) Communication & Democracy Section Off-Year Conference
  • 2025
    Crisis Spillover as a 'Sticky Crisis' amongst Voting Machine Manufacturers Buckley, C. Paper, International Public Relations Research Conference (IPRRC)
  • 2024
    AI For Social Good? Examining Perceptions of AI-Source Labels and Narratives within CSR Messages Buckley, C., Norman, M., Troy, C., Bao, J., Yang, Y., Overton, H., & Jung, Y. Poster, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) Annual Conference
  • 2024
    Corporate Conscience: Applying Ethics of Care Informed Crisis Responses to Corporate Social Advocacy Backlash Buckley, C. Paper, International Communication Association (ICA) Annual Conference
  • 2024
    Incentivizing Privacy Practices: Applying Privacy-as-Trust to the Organizational-Public Relationship Model Buckley, C. Paper, International Communication Association (ICA) Annual Conference
  • 2024
    Storytelling, AI, and Transparency in Public Relations for Social Change Buckley, C., Norman, M., Troy, C., Bao, J., Yang, Y., & Overton, H. Paper, International Public Relations Research Conference (IPRRC)
  • 2023
    Empowering Employees: Applying Organizational Identification Theory to Corporate Social Advocacy for LGBTQ+ Rights Troy, C., Buckley, C., Al Rawi, A., Kim, N., Vafeiadis, M., & Overton, H. Paper, AEJMC Annual Conference, Top Paper Panel for the LGBTQ+ Interest Group
  • 2023
    Mobilizing Supportive Stakeholders: Applying the Social Identity Model of Collective Action (SIMCA) to Corporate Social Advocacy Xiao, A., & Buckley, C. Poster, AEJMC Annual Conference
  • 2023
    Pandemic Lessons from Nonprofit Leaders: Insights from and for Community Resilience in Appalachia Pressgrove, G., Buckley, C., & Fraustino, J. Poster, AEJMC Annual Conference
  • 2023
    The Medium is the Message: Testing the Effect of Corporate Social Advocacy (CSA) Messages and Call-to-Action Statements on Advocating Behavioral Intentions Overton, H., Vafeiadis, M., Bhalla, N., & Buckley, C. Paper, International Public Relations Research Conference (IPRRC)
  • 2022
    Refining the Definition of Crisis Spillover: Reconceptualization and Insight Generation via an Expert Panel Voges, T., Eaddy, L., Jin, Y., Lu, X., & Buckley, C. Paper, The Spillover Effect of Crises Research Symposium, Erasmus Research Centre for Media, Communication, and Culture, Erasmus University, Rotterdam
  • 2022
    The Commodification of Protest in the Twenty-First Century Buckley, C. Poster, International Communication Association (ICA) Annual Conference
  • 2022
    Mixed-Methods Approach to Understanding Fan Advocacy in the Effort to Save Minor League Baseball (MiLB) Harrison, V., Buckley, C., & Bober, J. Paper, International Communication Association (ICA) Annual Conference
  • 2022
    "Save Our Spikes": Social Media Advocacy and Fan Reaction to the End of Minor League Baseball (MiLB) Harrison, V., Buckley, C., Bober, J., & Vallos, V. Paper, International Association for Communication and Sport Summit
  • 2022
    Improving Nonprofit Engagement on Social Media: Using Big Data, Machine-Learning, and Sentiment/Emotion Analysis to Evaluate Leading NPO Message Strategies Dardis, F., Buckley, C., Xiao, A., Heaton, C., & Mitra, P. Paper, International Public Relations Research Conference (IPRRC)
  • 2021
    Tracking the Path of the Green Consumer: Surveying the Decision-Making Process from Self-Transcendent Values to Supportive CSR Intentions Eng, N., Buckley, C., & Peng, R. Poster, National Communication Association (NCA) Annual Convention
  • 2021
    It's OK to Not Feel OK: Representations of Mental Health in Advertising Buckley, C. Paper, AEJMC Annual Conference (virtual)
  • 2021
    Designing Effective Corporate Social Advocacy Campaigns Using Issue Salience, Emotional Intensity, and Emotional Valence DiRusso, C., Buckley, C., Diddi, P., Dardis, F., Vafeiadis, M., & Eng, N. Paper, International Communication Association (ICA) Annual Conference (virtual)
  • 2021
    Corporate Social Responsibility for Nonprofits: The Roles of Short-Duration Partnerships, Commitment, Satisfaction, and Mission Accomplishment Harrison, V., Vafeiadis, M., Diddi, P., Buckley, C., & Dardis, F. Paper, International Communication Association (ICA) Annual Conference (virtual)
  • 2020
    The Need for Social Media "Influectuals" in Science Communication Madden, S., Kim, N., Freeman, J., & Buckley, C. Poster, AEJMC Annual Conference (virtual)
  • 2020
    How CSR Partnerships Affect Nonprofit Organizations (NPOs): The Mediating Role of Consumer-Brand Identification, CSR Motives, and NPO Social Objective Achievement Vafeiadis, M., Harrison, V., Diddi, P., Dardis, F., & Buckley, C. Poster, AEJMC Annual Conference (virtual)
  • 2020
    Capitalizing on Clickbait: Identifying the Effects of Listicle Type, Length, and Sponsorship Buckley, C., Freeman, J., & Chai, Y. Paper, International Public Relations Research Conference (IPRRC)
  • 2019
    Volunteer Motivation Fulfillment: The Antecedents and Outcomes Xiao, A., Harrison, V., & Buckley, C. Poster, AEJMC Annual Conference
  • 2019
    Donation Experience and Advocacy: Extending the Organization-Donor Relationship Model Harrison, V., Buckley, C., & Xiao, A. Paper, International Communication Association (ICA) Annual Conference
  • 2019
    Countering Misinformation on Social Media: How Stakeholders' Attitudes and Behavioral Intentions are Influenced by Source and Supporting Evidence of the Rebuttal Message Bortree, D. S., Harrison, V., Buckley, C., Vafeiadis, M., Yang, G., Freeman, J., Kim, N., & Gessner, J. Paper, International Public Relations Research Conference (IPRRC)
  • 2018
    Combatting Fake News: Examining the Role of Crisis Response Strategies and Issue Involvement in Refuting Misinformation on Social Media Vafeiadis, M., Bortree, D. S., Buckley, C., & Diddi, P. Paper, AEJMC Annual Conference
  • 2018
    Can We Nudge Users Toward Better Password Management? An Initial Study Kankane, S., DiRusso, C., & Buckley, C. Paper, ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Media & Public Writing

Journal Reviewing

Peer reviews verified on ORCID (review counts in parentheses). See the Involvement page for the full list of journals I review for.

  • International Journal of Strategic Communication (3)
  • Journal of Applied Communication Research (1)
  • Journal of Communication Management (3)
  • Journal of Public Relations Research (1)
  • Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly (1)
  • Public Relations Review (2)