Lecturer Nikol Njavro earns a doctorate

We are proud to announce that our lecturer Nikol Njavro has successfully defended her doctoral dissertation at the Sheffield Hallam University, thereby earning the academic degree DBA – Doctor of Business Administration.

The title of her doctoral thesis is “Generation Z Social Media Content Strategy in a Croatian Business School”, and the research focuses on the analysis of social media content strategies and their impact on Generation Z engagement within the context of higher education.

The dissertation has a strong practical orientation and addresses one of the key challenges of contemporary marketing in education – the fact that content strategies are often based on intuition or platform-specific trends rather than on systematic empirical evidence of what truly drives user engagement. In this context, the thesis provides one of the first empirical cross-platform insights into the higher education sector, analysing six major social media platforms used by Generation Z: TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, and X.

The particular value of the research lies in the development of a theory-informed and empirically tested framework that demonstrates how different types of content shape Generation Z engagement behaviour and how these findings can be translated into more effective marketing strategies – not only in education, but across other industries as well.

Commenting on her research, lecturer Njavro stated:

“My research examined Generation Z social media content strategy in a Croatian business school context, with a strong practical orientation. The key contribution is a theory-informed, empirically tested framework that shows how different types of content shape engagement behaviour among Generation Z, and how this evidence can be translated into a more efficient marketing strategy.

The study addresses a common problem in higher education (and beyond): content marketing strategies are typically based on intuition or platform trends rather than by systematic evidence of what actually drives engagement. To address this gap, the thesis provides one of the first empirical cross-platform analyses in the higher education sector, examining six major platforms used by Generation Z: TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, and X. Importantly, the content–engagement mechanisms identified are not sector-specific and can be adapted across industries.”

We congratulate our lecturer on this outstanding academic achievement, which further contributes to the scientific, teaching, and professional excellence of our faculty.