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This paper aims to analyze the ethical responses of the fashion industry to the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic when the entire world was shocked by the rapid spread of the virus. The authors describe lessons from emergency ethics of care in the fashion industry during the initial months of COVID-19, which can assist fashion managers in improving ethical decisions in future operations.

Rapid qualitative research methods were employed by conducting real-time, in-depth interviews with key informants from multinational fashion companies operating in Spain, a severely affected region. A content analysis of news articles published during the first months of 2020 was conducted.

Five critical disruptions in the fashion industry were identified: (1) changes in public needs, (2) transportation and distribution backlogs, (3) defective and counterfeit supplies, (4) stakeholder relationships at stake and (5) managers' coping challenges. Additionally, five business survival responses with a strong ethics of care component were identified, implemented by some fashion companies to mitigate the damage: (1) adapting production for public well-being, (2) enhancing the flexibility of logistic networks, (3) emphasizing quality and innovation, (4) reinventing stakeholder collaborations and (5) practicing responsible leadership.

Despite the well-documented controversies surrounding unethical practices within the fashion industry, even during COVID-19, our findings inform managers of the potential and capability of fashion companies to operate more responsibly. The lessons learned can guide fashion companies' operations in a post-pandemic society. Furthermore, they can address other grand challenges, such as natural disasters, geopolitical conflicts and climate change.

While Dolly Parton may be best known for her distinguished music career, her philanthropic and community work is equally impressive. This paper explains how Parton’s work in these areas can illustrate the principles of authentic leadership from a popular media perspective. Parton’s popularity and wide range of fans across generations and demographics make a case study of her work a poignant and effective pedagogical tool as an introduction to authentic leadership. We share an array of resources in popular media that includes videos, podcasts, and popular press articles and offer questions to facilitate class discussion and about the qualities of an authentic leader.

In the context of omnichannel distribution development, this study aims to understand how and why trying products out helps people make good purchase decisions (i.e. decisions that they do not regret later).

The paper uses mixed methods consisting of an experiment (n = 162), a series of interviews with consumers (n = 16) and in-store observations (n = 202).

Results show that trying products out allows us to evaluate how they will fit, which increases purchase intention. They also indicate that trying leads to better decision-making.

This paper enriches product trial literature and sheds new light on how sales channels combine in omnichannel distribution.

The conclusions of this research will be useful to retailers who want to help consumers make better purchasing decisions.

Helping consumers make better decisions minimizes the societal impact of consumption by reducing the frequency of re-purchases and product returns.

The originality of this research lies in using mixed methods, providing a complete understanding of why consumers try products out and how they do so.