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Fashion brands, including fast and luxury segments, receive harsh criticism for engaging in unethical practices such as poor working conditions and environmental damage. As a result, fashion supply chains are pressured by stakeholders to publicly disclose internal supply chain performance information and to show a high level of supply chain transparency. This paper compares supply chain transparency in fast and luxury fashion in Europe.

By applying the maturity curve of fashion supply chain transparency, developed by Muratore and Marques (2022), the websites of 20 fast and 20 luxury fashion brands were analysed and classified as Opaque, Translucent or Transparent.

Despite its reputation, fast fashion demonstrated higher levels of transparency than luxury fashion. Luxury fashion only performed better in terms of the accessibility of sustainability information. Luxury brands avoided disclosing key transparency information, suggesting that they may be operating in contradiction to that which is inferred on their websites.

The findings of the study shed light on the sustainability credentials of the fashion industry, which has the potential to influence the purchase intentions of consumers, particularly millennials and Generation Z. Implications for practice are developed to highlight how fashion can improve its supply chain transparency.

Researchers have examined the influence of the factors on reducing return rates in retailing over the years. However, the returns experience is often an overlooked way to drive customer engagement and repeat sales in the now ubiquitous omnichannel setting. The focus on returns prevention in existing research overshadows management’s need to understand better the comprehensive mechanics linking the customer in-store return experience with their repurchase actions. Recognizing the need to bridge different stages of the returns management process, this research aims to explore the facilitators and barriers of in-store return activities.

Analysis of customer corporate data from 5,339 returns at the retail level provides insights from the customer return experience. Expanding our theoretical understanding, a deductive research approach then examines how those factors impact customer repurchase intentions both online and at brick-and-mortar stores. Stage two of the study employs a scenario-based role-playing experiment with consumer respondents to test hypotheses derived from signaling theory and justice theory.

Results find that returns policy and loyalty program capabilities are essential in creating a positive customer in-store experience. Moreover, a return experience enhanced by frontline employee service can retain existing shoppers and drive additional store traffic, further stimulating retailer sales.

These findings refine our understanding of returns management in evolving omnichannel retailing and offer practical insights for retailers to manage customer relationships through in-store returns.

Answering two questions: What do people believe is the gender makeup of different occupations? If there is a systematic difference between the actual and perceived gender composition what factors predict or mediate this difference?

We integrate three occupation-level datasets: ratings of perceived gender composition and cultural sentiments (EPA ratings) for every 2010 Census occupation collected for this study, occupational characteristics from O*NET, and demographic characteristics from the 2015 to 2019 Current Population Survey. Regression models examine the association between sentiments and objective occupational traits on the perceived gender composition net of the actual gender composition.

While respondents underestimate extreme values, perceptions largely reflect actual composition. Gendered sentiments had a significant independent effect on gender composition perceptions. Examining the relationship between objective occupational features, sentiments, and perceptions allows scholars to better understand the links between structural conditions, gendered beliefs, and social action. If individuals underestimate the extent of gender segregation and view some occupations as more diverse than they are, they may be more willing to consider occupations inconsistent with their gender identity. On the other hand, if they misperceive gender composition because of cultural sentiments, they may choose an occupational course somewhat different from their intentions.

Research on gender composition typically employs either a macro approach based on governmental statistics or a micro approach that examines a limited number of occupations. This is the first study to conduct a complete census of every Census occupation for perceived gender composition and cultural sentiments.

Hyperinflation is a rare form of macroeconomic crisis that often results from extreme political events, such as revolution or regime change. The 1989–1990 Argentine hyperinflation is puzzling because it occurred in the absence of such an event. Moreover, conventional fiscal mechanisms linking political processes to hyperinflation do not sufficiently explain the Argentine case. Previous theories emphasizing distributional conflict and institutional weakness contain key elements of an explanation of the Argentine hyperinflation but do not capture the range of mechanisms that produced extreme financial instability. This chapter offers an elite theory approach that subsumes elements of these approaches within a broader theory of elite fragmentation, competition, and conflict. Elite fragmentation inhibits collective action in both economic and state elites, resulting in deficits in policymaking capacity. Fragmentation among state policy elites leads to policy volatility and incoherence, while fragmentation among politically mobilized economic elites results in elite stalemates constraining the options of policy elites. These policymaking patterns lead to prolonged delays in the adjustment of unsustainable organizational structures, resulting in explosive forms of crises.

The purpose of this study is to (1) identify the factors that affect the adoption of virtual reality (VR) for spectator sports, (2) examine the differences in the factors among the four adopter categories (i.e. continuers, discontinuers, potentials and resistors) and (3) determine whether these factors are useful for discriminating among the adopter categories, based on the “diffusion of innovation” and “uses and gratification” theories.

In total, 216 participants were included in the analysis. Logistic regression and multiple analyses of variance were conducted to identify the factors that affect the adoption of VRS and examine the differences in the factors between adopter and non-adopter as well as between the continuers, discontinuers, potentials and resistors.

This study found that actualized innovativeness, complexity, companionship and gender significantly affect user adoption of VR for spectator sports. There were significant differences in the factors among the four adopter categories. The factors were also useful in discriminating between the four adopter categories.

This study highlights how individuals embrace emerging technologies differently based on their adopter category characteristics. From a marketing perspective, the insights gained from this study can inform the development of targeted strategies, campaigns and user experiences for VR spectator sports (VRS). This approach promises new revenue streams for the spectator sport industry and offers solutions to challenges like declining viewership and digital marginalization. It underscores the potential success of VR technology in transforming the spectator sport industry.