Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine user perceptions toward consumer-facing words used by fashion brands to stimulate sustainable consumption and post consumption behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
A self-completion, survey based matching exercise was administered to 100 active fashion-shoppers in Hong Kong aged between 18 and 35 years old. A probability sampling method was used for on-street intercepts to ensure a random selection within the defined population. This was accompanied by 20 individual ethnographic interviews.
Findings
A lack of understanding and comprehension of key green language terminology used frequently in user facing communications is problematic for fashion brand marketers as the impact of their messages is often unclear, distributed and more likely to lead to user frustration rather than positive engaged consumer decision making and action. Further, there is an emerging indication that this approach is highly unlikely to enhance knowledge, engagement and action or to influence brand loyalty.
Research limitations/implications
Data were collected in Hong Kong and is culturally bounded, so while providing a good indication of the findings in situ this can also be replicated in other locations.
Practical implications
Recommended outcomes from the findings suggest that brand messages should be delivered that are intended to stimulate sustainability behaviors that are core to one key brand theme so that user outcome decision making and actions fit with the core brand values. This suggested approach will have a greater likelihood of leading to brand trust, responsible business action and greater clarity about the issue of sustainability and related action to be taken on behalf of the user.
Originality/value
The paper raises concerns about the effectiveness and outcomes of fashion brand marketing communications and findings provide insights into the confusion of understanding and the rise in frustration among targeted fashion shoppers 18-35 years, despite the use of frequently used words in brand communications to promote sustainable fashion consumption behaviors.
Credential ProgramC alifornia's urban centers are experiencing a crisis in special education. Today, the shortage of qualified special education teachers is so great that any willing person with a bachelor's degree can be placed in the special education classroom on an emergency credential, further perpetuating the cycle of failure. Since 1990, California has experienced a 404% increase in the number of personnel teaching without appropriate credentials (California Department of Education, 2000). As a result of the demand for teachers, most university training programs are faced with on-the-job credential candidates teaching in extremely complex and difficult situations. These untrained teachers, dealing with stark reality every day, need current, efficient, relevant, and timely instruction with significant school district and university support. The
Reflective practice (Schon, 1983) is a decisionmaking theory that defines a set of components professionals might use to resolve unique or complex problems as they arise. In this study, expert high-school special education resource teachers were observed providing instruction in the classroom. Content analysis of postobservation interview transcripts was used to identify the presence of 124 reflective-practice indicators in the subjects' instructional decisions: 49 (39%) for the component of personal responsibility, 39 (32%) for the component of testing, and 36 (29%) for the component of problem setting. Results suggest that special education resource teachers use reflective practice to some degree when managing instructional problems.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.