I am a behavioral and organizational sociologist, public relations scholar, author, and leadership development practitioner whose work examines how communication shapes organizational culture, authority, legitimacy, and professional identity. My perspective is informed by two doctoral disciplines: behavioral sociology and communication/public relations, which allow me to connect individual behavior with the wider institutional and cultural systems in which people work, lead, seek recognition, and build belonging.
Throughout my career, I have been interested in the less visible dimensions of organizational life: the expectations that are rarely stated, the forms of knowledge that insiders take for granted, the signals through which credibility is recognized, and the communication practices that determine who is heard, trusted, included, or able to progress. This work spans organizational communication, leadership, workplace culture, employee experience, professional development, brand heritage communication, and the creative industries, particularly fashion and luxury (brand heritage communication).
Alongside my research and writing, I work on the practical application of these ideas through leadership development, executive education, coaching, mentoring, and institutional strategy. As a Strategic Workforce Development Advisor through the University of Alabama’s Provost Faculty Fellowship, I have contributed to university-wide work on career readiness, professional development, and the communication of opportunities across complex institutional environments. I am also an ILM Level 5 qualified coach and mentor.
My aim is to translate rigorous research into frameworks that leaders and organizations can use: to communicate identity more clearly, develop people more effectively, preserve and mobilize heritage, strengthen legitimacy, and create cultures in which individuals understand how to participate, contribute, and belong.
Current Research
My current research examines communication as a mechanism through which authority, legitimacy, professional identity, and belonging are produced and sustained. Across organizational and creative-industry contexts, I am particularly interested in the informal rules, symbolic signals, and everyday interactions that shape whose knowledge is recognized, who is perceived as credible, and who is able to participate and progress.
A major strand of this work focuses on fashion and the creative industries. My textbook, Fashion Advertising and Public Relations: A Historical and Sociological Perspective, offers a historical and sociological account of how fashion communication developed and how it continues to shape taste, identity, and cultural meaning. Building on this work, I am writing a nonfiction book that introduces a new model of fashion communication centered on recognition, symbolic capital, strategic silence, and the implicit communication through which hierarchy and belonging are maintained. The book is contracted with Business Expert Press and scheduled for publication in 2027.
I also conduct research on leadership and organizational culture in public relations and advertising. This work examines how leadership is enacted, communicated, and recognized within professional fields, with particular attention to employee voice, workplace expectations, career progression, and the relationship between formal authority and informal legitimacy.
A further strand of my research investigates the behavioral effects of institutional communication. My work on early twentieth-century UK government campaigns explores how state communication shaped public behavior, social expectations, and ideas of responsible citizenship. Although historically grounded, this research contributes to a broader interest in how institutions use communication to normalize behavior and establish authority.
Together, these strands are connected by a central question: how does communication create the conditions through which people, organizations, and cultural actors become recognized as legitimate?
Full work experience is available on my LinkedIn Profile.
Future Directions
My future work will develop an integrated program of research, writing, and professional practice around legitimacy, leadership, organizational culture, heritage, and belonging. The aim is to translate sociological and communication research into practical frameworks that organizations can use to understand how authority is established, how cultures are reproduced, and how people learn the often-unspoken rules of participation and progression.
Academic Background and Career
I am an Associate Professor of Public Relations Leadership at the University of Alabama and previously held academic appointments at Leeds Beckett University in the United Kingdom. My career spans journalism, sociology, organizational communication, public relations, leadership, and marketing, bringing together professional practice and interdisciplinary research into communication, organizational culture, and leadership.
I hold a PhD in Marketing, Public Relations and Communications (Leeds Beckett University, Leeds Business School, UK, 2019), a PhD in Sociology (University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Sociology, Croatia, 2013), Postgraduate Diploma in Media and Journalism (City University London, UK, 2007), BA in Political Science (University of Zagreb, Faculty of Political Science, Croatia, 2003), and BA degree in Journalism (University of Zagreb, Faculty of Political Science, Croatia, 2003). Sociology remains the intellectual foundation of my work, providing the lens through which I study communication, organizations, legitimacy, leadership, and culture.
I worked as a journalist for several years in the print media in Croatia, Slovenia, and Italy (2003-2009). Since 2007, I have worked in academia. At first, I worked as a research fellow and teaching assistant at the University of Zagreb (12/2007-12/2013), and then as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at Leeds Beckett University (07/2014-05/2016). From May 2016 to December 2017, I worked as a Lecturer in Public Relations at Leeds Beckett University, where I taught a variety of modules/courses in Journalism, Public Relations, and Marketing. From December 2017 until September 2021, I worked as a Senior Lecturer in Public Relations, and from September 2021 to November 2023, I worked as a Reader at Leeds Business School, Leeds Beckett University. Since October 2023, I have worked as an associate professor in public relations leadership at the University of Alabama, College of Communication and Information Sciences, Department of Advertising and PR, United States.
I was an author and project lead of the ‘Women in the UK’s Advertising Industry’ project (funded by the British Academy), ‘Women in Journalism’ (HEFCE funded), and ‘Working-class Students and the Higher Education in England’ (HEFCE funded). I also led the ‘Women in Public Relations’ project (EUPRERA, 2018-2021), and I currently lead the EUPRERA research network on ‘Women in PR’. I was also a research lead for the #WECAN project (Women Empowered through Coaching and Networking), funded by the European Social Fund and the Department for Work and Pensions.
I have worked on several research projects, i.e., UNESCO Media Development Indicators (2008-2009), FP7 Identities and Modernities in Europe (2009-2012), European Commission’s Public Service Employment project (2017), and COMPETE IN project funded by the European Commission (2019-2021).
I am editor-in-chief of Corporate Communications: An International Journal and editor-in-chief of a book series I established with Emerald, ‘Women, Economics and the Labour Relations’. In addition to that, I am the editor-in-chief of the ‘Northern Lights: A Film & Media Yearbook’. Finally, as a result of a program of projects I authored and led on women in mass communication industries, I authored and lead a Comms Women Advocacy Initiative championing women and those who support women. I am co-editor of the Routledge book series, New Directions in PR and Communication Research.
My teaching and executive education focus on leadership, organizational behavior, fashion communication, management, professional ethics, and organizational culture.
Disclaimer
This is a personal website, and what I write here has nothing to do with my paid work, i.e., views expressed here are mine only and do not necessarily relate to my employer and/or institutions I am affiliated with. Everything I publish on this website is my own choice, and I am not paid for running this website or writing a blog.
My wider objective is to build a distinctive body of work showing that communication does more than transmit information or manage reputation. It structures recognition, shapes behavior, preserves institutional meaning, and determines how authority and belonging are experienced. Through books, research, executive education, speaking, and organizational collaboration, I aim to make these less visible dimensions of communication understandable and practically useful.