Associate Professor
Ph.D., Human Kinetics/Sport Management, University of Ottawa, 2016
M.A., Sport and Recreation Studies, University of New Brunswick,
2012
HND, Sport and Leisure Management, Leeds Beckett University, 2006
Marketing Communication
Dr. Abeza is an Associate Professor at Towson University (TU). Before joining TU, Dr. Abeza taught graduate and undergraduate students at Southern Methodist University (Dallas, TX) and the University of Ottawa (Ottawa, ON). He was a visiting research fellow at the University of New South Wales (Australia) and Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia). Prior to returning to academia, Dr. Abeza had a successful career in sport management and marketing at a global level, and currently provides consultancy services to a range of sport organizations around the world. His research interest is in marketing communication, with specific areas of expertise in digital media related to sponsorship, ambush marketing, branding, and relationship marketing. He has researched and written extensively on the topic publishing over 70 journal articles and book chapters in outlets such as Journal of Sport Management, Journal of Strategic Marketing, Communication & Sport, International Journal of Sport Communication (IJSC), amongst others. He has published 7 books, including "Implications and Impacts of eSports on Business and Society" (IGI Global, 2019), "Sport Sponsorship" (Routledge, 2021), "Canadian Sport Marketing" (Human Kinetics, 2022), and "Sport and Social Media in Business and Society" (Routledge, 2024), which he co-authored. He is also the sole author of "Professional Football in Ethiopia (EPL): Multidimensional Normative Assessment and Developmental Roadmap" (Pana Printing, 2023). In addition to his authored works, he has co-edited two books: "Social Media in Sport: Theory and Practice" (World Scientific, 2021) and "Social Media in Sport: Evidence-Based Perspectives" (Routledge, 2024).
Abeza serves as an ad hoc reviewer for a number of academic journals and was a special issue guest editor for IJSC (for 3 different issues – 2018, 2023, & 2024) on the topic of Social Media in Sport. Currently, he serves on the editorial boards of eight different academic journals: International Journal of Sport Communication; Sport, Business, and Management; Journal of Relationship Marketing; International Journal of eSports Research; Journal of Global Sport Management, Sport Marketing Quarterly, Communication & Sport, and Sport Management Digest.
Books
Refereed Journal Articles
Sanderson, J., & Abeza, G. (2024). “Social Media and Sport Research: Empirical Examinations Showcasing Diversity in Methods and Topics.” International Journal of Sport Communication, 17(1), 1-2.