Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to examine the content of for-profit organizations' Facebook pages and how the communication strategy employed impacts stakeholders' perceptions of the organization-public relationship, corporate social responsibility, attitudes, and purchase intent. Design/methodology/approach -For Study 1, a content analysis examined the types of information on for-profit organizations' Facebook pages. Facebook pages were coded for organizational disclosure and information dissemination, corporate social responsibility information, and interactivity. Pages were also coded for using a corporate ability, corporate social responsibility, or hybrid communication strategy. Three organizations were then selected based on the content analysis results to serve as exemplars in the two-phase experiment. Participants filled out measures of initial attitudes, perceptions of the organization-public relationship, corporate social responsibility, and purchase intent. A week later, participants interacted with the organizations' Facebook pages and then answered additional scale measures. Findings -Study 1 found for-profit organizations discuss program/services, achievements, and awards on their Facebook pages. The main communication strategy employed on Facebook is corporate ability. Study 2 results indicate interacting with Facebook pages bolsters stakeholders' perceptions of the organization-public relationship, corporate social responsibility, and purchase intent. The organization employing a corporate social responsibility communication strategy had the most success bolstering these variables. Research limitations/implications -Several of the organizations did not have Facebook pages to code for the content analysis. Some organizations' pages were not coded because the page was just starting and there was no information available. The content analysis included a small sample size (n ¼ 114) which impacted the experiment. It limited the number of organizations that could be employed in the experimental conditions. Practical implications -When posting information on Facebook, organizations should employ the corporate social responsibility communication strategy. However, regardless of the strategy employed, interacting with Facebook information can bolster stakeholders' perceptions of organizational-public relationships, corporate social responsibility, attitudes, and purchase intent. Originality/value -The paper adds to the experimental literature. There is very limited experimental research examining the impact of Facebook on stakeholders. It provides practitioners with some guidance on the types of communication strategy they should employ when posting on Facebook.

This research explores the factors in choices women make about watching sports.The assumption about coverage of women's sports in post-Title IX decades has been that girls who have played will turn into women who watch, encouraging media producers to provide more women's sports programming. Yet that audience has not materialized, and women's sports have languished on the periphery of the sports media landscape. Using focus-group discussions with heterosexual, married women, we argue that sports media consumption is tied to gender roles and related domestic work. That association with emotion labor presents significant barriers to the cultivation of these women as fans of women's sports.

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This study examines narratives by young adults about sport and gender in relation to equality. Specifically, we explore how focus-group participants used small stories to situate male and female athletes and Title IX. The U.S. law has been credited for increasing opportunities for girls and women but is considered a source of tension for gender relations. Our findings suggest that participants’ stories ultimately did not support emancipatory goals for girls and women because they positioned equality as a right women had not earned. We argue that feminists cannot underestimate the need to inject counternarratives into public discourse at every level, including stories shared with children about sport. These narratives must address misconceptions about equality and gender equity and, ultimately, challenge gender ideology.

Female sports journalists work as tokens in gendered organizations where masculinity is integral to hierarchical logic and newswork processes. Through in-depth interviews, this longitudinal study explores how women in the industry manage their gendered and professional identities and make career decisions. Our findings suggest that although participants framed their decisions to stay or to leave in idealized terms, their choices were also guided by cultural and structural impediments acknowledged but accepted as natural and immutable. The women noted negative gender-related experiences, but most minimized them and saw their gender as an advantage. They also described their struggles to balance their work and social lives, the latter of which they saw as a necessary sacrifice to become ideal workers. We discuss these issues and suggest that sports media will fail to reach gender parity until these barriers are addressed; until then, the revolving door will keep turning.

Although most sports reporters said they were familiar with Title IX, attitudes toward the law and other gender-related issues differed based on reporters' gender and age and newspapers' circulation.

Sports, largely considered the domain of men, and public relations, recently associated with women, intersect in college sports public relations, known as sports information. This study examines that intersection by using an online survey to explore the demographics, division of labor, earnings, career longevity and satisfaction among sports information practitioners and comparing results to data for public relations and sports journalists. The findings suggest that sports information is, unlike other areas of public relations, a staunchly masculine profession. Women are largely excluded from high-status positions and more often report less job satisfaction and shorter tenures than men. This study also provided the opportunity for exploratory research on racial minorities in sports information, with the findings showing sports information as a racially homogonous profession.

In light of continuing research that assesses how dominant ideology is communicated via mediated sport, this study examines the attitudes of sports information directors (SIDs), arguably initial “gatekeepers” in the media production process and, thus, critical players in shaping sports media messages. A random sample of Division I SIDs was surveyed on questions clustered around gender and sexuality issues. The results showed that Division I SIDs are likely to help gay athletes stay in the closet, although they express more progressive attitudes toward sexuality than sports journalists, who were similarly surveyed in 2009. The results also showed mixed support for women’s sports and Title IX – with implications for coverage – and strong support for a gendered division of labor that could be problematic for the future prospects of women in the profession. The authors use the survey to question assumptions that female SIDs will advocate on behalf of women’s sports, Title IX and other related issues.