Bharadwaj's scholarly pursuits strive to combine academic rigor with practical relevance, often exploring the interface between marketing and other disciplines.
His articles are published in such journals as Journal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Retailing and Journal of Product Innovation Management, and he has written several Harvard Business School Publishing case studies that bring his academic research into the classroom.

He is often recognized for his research and teaching activity, including receiving two Haslam Summer Scholars Research Awards (2020, 2021), being named among the Top 40 Undergraduate Business Professors by Poets & Quants (2017), receiving the Allen H. Keally Excellence in Teaching Award from the Haslam College of Business (2017) and being a Harold H. Maynard Award finalist for an article published in Journal of Marketing (2008). He is the founding member of the Sustainability Research Network, an interdisciplinary community of scholars at the Haslam College of Business and beyond who strive to understand the business implications of firms' environmental and /or societal initiatives.

He has also served as a consultant and seminar leader for government clients and leading multinational corporations, and on the faculty at Temple University, Babson College, University of Texas at Austin, and University of Chicago. Prior to earning his doctorate, he worked in product and price management at Miller Brewing Company.