Subhalakshmi Bezbaruah is an Assistant Professor of Integrated Marketing Communications in the School of Journalism & New Media at the University of Mississippi.
Research Interests
- Authenticity in digital communication
- Source and message effects
- Platform-mediated brand relationships
- AI-generated and synthetic media
Biography
Dr. Bezbaruah is a media and persuasion scholar whose research examines how people interpret and respond to persuasive communication across emerging media environments. Specifically, Dr. Bezbaruah’s work focuses on how source and message cues shape judgments of authenticity, credibility, and persuasive intent, particularly when audiences must assess whether mediated content, identities, or products are genuine. Dr. Bezbaruah’s broader research extends these questions to AI-generated and synthetic media, including emerging formats such as AI slop, as well as health communication surrounding emerging therapeutics such as GLP-1 receptor agonists. Across these contexts, her work revolves around one central question: how people distinguish what is real, authentic, or trustworthy from what is artificial, deceptive, or commercially constructed, and how those judgments shape persuasion, relationships, and consumer behavior. Her work has been published in Journal of Business Research, Journal of Product & Brand Management, Journal of Media Psychology, and Journal of International Consumer Marketing. Before joining the University of Mississippi, Dr. Bezbaruah received her Ph.D. in Information & Media, with a specialization in Advertising & Public Relations from Michigan State University.
Education
Ph.D. Advertising, Michigan State University (2026)