Bobbie Rathjens

Bobbie Rathjens is a Business Communications professor in the full-time MBA program at the Eli Broad College of Business and a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Communication at Michigan State University. She is set to defend her dissertation, Mechanisms of Dissonant Attitudinal Shifts in Online Influence, in Spring 2025. Her dissertation examines how the power of beauty influencers can change consumer behavior and attitudes through the use of counter-normative recommendations.

With a unique academic foundation—holding a Master’s degree in Marketing Research and soon a Ph.D. in Communication—Bobbie’s expertise bridges the fields of social influence, consumer behavior, and communication technology. Her research focuses on the power of social media influencers in changing attitudes, shaping brand perception, and transforming online communication. She has published in leading journals, including the Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, the International Journal of Hospitality Management, among others.

Bobbie brings a wealth of industry experience to her academic career, having previously served as a Director of Marketing for a nationally recognized ski and golf resort and as a Corporate Social Media Strategist in the healthcare sector. This background informs her teaching and mentorship, where she integrates real-world applications into her courses. She has designed and taught classes on Digital Marketing, Marketing Analytics, Social Media Strategy, Leadership and Group Communication, and Business Communication, emphasizing data-driven decision-making and digital engagement.

Committed to student development, Bobbie actively mentors emerging scholars and business professionals, fostering critical thinking and strategic communication skills in the next generation of leaders.

Rathjens, B., Wu, A., Zhang, L., & Wei, W. (2024). When social media influencer endorsement backfires: Unpacking fallout from explicit endorsements across brand equity levels. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/10963480231223150Yang, W., Zhang, L., Wei, W., Yoo, M., & Rathjens, B. (2023). Do we love celebrity endorsers? The joint impacts of consumers’ need for status, celebrity’s star power and image congruence on celebrity endorsement effectiveness. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHTI-05-2023-0313Rathjens, B., Van Der Heide, B., Pham, D., Earle, K., Ulusoy, E., Mason, A. J., Zhang, Y., & Bredland, A. (2023). Negative online reviews and manager response: Applying expectancy disconfirmation theory in a CMC context. Communication Reports, 36(2), 110–122. https://doi.org/10.1080/08934215.2022.2154815Zhang, L., Wei, W., Rathjens, B., & Zheng, Y. (2023). Pet influencers on social media: The joint effect of message appeal and narrator. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 110, 103453. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2023.103453
Wei, W., Zhang, L., Rathjens, B., & McGinley, S. (2022). Electronic consumer-to-consumer interaction (eCCI) post a service failure: The psychological power of need for approval. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/10963480221141649  Rathjens, B.*, Zhang, L., & Cha, J. Airline chatbot: Examining the response of outcome- and process-focused individuals for customer service requests. Manuscript accepted to Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology.Pham, D. (Tyler), Van Der Heide, B., Zhang, Y., Earle, K., Rathjens, B., Ulusoy, E., Mason, A., & Bredland, A. (n.d.). Testing the Effect of Sending an Evaluative Message on Perceiving Others in Computer-Mediated Communication. Media Psychology, 0(0), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/15213269.2024.2418641