Exploring Female Athlete Decision-Making Processes Related to Personal Branding and Self-Presentation on Social Media

Given the uptick in media coverage and investment dollars surrounding women's sports, female athletes’ personal branding and social media activity have received more attention in recent years. As such, sport marketing, branding, and communication scholars have explored numerous perspectives of athlete personal branding. This established research line has discovered factors that make up the athlete brand image, revealed how athletes have monetized their brand, and present themselves online. However, little is known about the strategies women athletes use for their social media platforms. That is, a facet of athlete branding left unobserved in the literature is how athletes decide what, when, and how to post online. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore the decision-making processes elite female athletes undergo when developing and maintaining their personal brand on social media.