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Given that novel merchandising informatics is seen as a better approach to studying eco-friendly markets, this study aimed to explore consumer socialization of sustainable networks based on the theory of consumer socialization. By employing social network analysis using the NodeXL program, we examined the social class hierarchy, investigated the structure of social agent–learner relationships, and explored the social learning properties of the eBay Green Team Facebook network. The results indicated that the network has been structured as a ‘tight-crowd network’ through 76,482 interactions among 1612 actors from 19 clusters. Specifically, the centrality measure revealed the top influentials and their interactions with other eBay Green participants. The semantic analysis discerned the salient words, which implies that consumers gain utility from this network. We concluded that sustainable networks in social media can provide an account of the socialization of consumer attitudes and the role of top influentials in sustaining the relational network.

This work presents a novel approach to increasing the efficiency of photovoltaic (PV) panels by integrating them with a cooling tower (CT). An infusion of water cools the hot, dry ambient air at the top of the CT. Due to gravity, the cooled air drops toward the base of the CT, where it interacts with a turbine placed at the bottom of the CT to produce electricity. The air then exits the CT base, creating a cooled air jet stream. The PV panels were placed at the base of the CT, right at the stream’s exit. As the cooled air passes underneath the PV panels, it exchanges energy with the PV, reducing the panels’ temperature. The results showed that the maximum annual efficiency improvement (6.831%) was observed using two rows of PV panels. The efficiency declined incrementally from 6.831% to 4.652% when the number of rows of PV panels was increased from two to twelve. The results also showed a significant improvement in the temperature of the PV panels. The best results were obtained at noon (maximum ambient temperature), where the solar panel temperature was lowered to 25 °C from 55 °C. Furthermore, the annual electrical energy generated with two rows of panels was 39,207.4 kWh without the CT, compared to 41,768.2 kWh with the CT. In addition, the results showed that with a 10 m diameter and 200 m height CT, the maximum number of PV rows that can be effectively cooled is 24. Future work will investigate integrating additional techniques to improve the system’s efficiency further.

Guided by the socio-ecological model, the aim of this study was to investigate the predictive strengths of individual, social, and physical environmental factors toward different intensities of physical activity (PA; vigorous PA, moderate PA, walking) and sedentary behavior (SB) among college students. A cross-sectional research design was used. There were 287 college students (Mage = 20.75 ± 2.91; 54% female) recruited from a public research university in the Southwestern United States. Participants completed previously validated questionnaires assessing their PA, SB, and perceptions of self-efficacy, social support, and physical environment variables. Correlation and hierarchical regression analyses were performed to examine the associations and the relative contributions of those individual, social, and physical environmental factors to PA and SB, respectively. The findings indicated that self-efficacy, social support from friends, and convenience of using exercise facilities were positively correlated with vigorous PA. Self-efficacy and physical environmental factor such as convenience of using exercise facilities were significantly associated with students’ moderate PA. Physical environmental factors, including convenience of using exercise facilities, satisfaction with neighborhood services, ease of walking to public transportation stop, and detached single-family residence were significantly related to walking, while only detached single-family residence was associated to SB. The results highlight PA interventions may do well to focus on the promotion of individual and environmental variables to increase PA in college students. More evidence is needed to determine the relationships between social ecological factors and SB.

This study examines the degree of macroeconomic recovery of the Nepal tourism industry after a natural disaster using the autoregressive integrated moving average model (ARIMA). The study investigated the case of Nepal’s earthquakes in 2015 and examined the impact of the earthquakes on tourism inflows and GDP using time series data from 1990 to 2018. The results show that the increasing trend in the number of tourists changes in the post-earthquake period. In particular, the excess in tourist demand by age and purpose of visits after the earthquake indicates natural disaster as a potential reason for a tourism demand boost, often described as dark tourism in literature. This research shows the process of a heritage tourist destination assessing macroeconomic recovery from a natural disaster and fills the gap in the literature regarding purpose-based tourism demand and a link between dark tourism and disaster recovery on a heritage tourism destination.

This is the first research that has examined temporary swapping, a form of collaborative fashion consumption, that involves clothing exchange between two people that does not require the transfer of product ownership or monetary compensation. In this ethnographic study, we explored benefits, risks, and the meanings constructed by eight women before, during, and after exchanging parts of their wardrobes with a swap partner. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs was used to organize the results of interpretation of participant diaries with photographs of swapped garments and created outfits over a six-month period. While the swapping experience addressed basic physiological needs and secured free resources (more clothing to wear) for all participants, the more advanced psychological (social, self-esteem) and personal growth needs (self-actualization, transcendence) were met for only some of them. Similarly, women perceived different risks (safety and self-esteem risks). Through a holistic interpretation of the results, we discovered two critical factors determining overall temporary swapping satisfaction and success: (1) closeness of the relationship between the swap partners and (2) participant love for clothes. Temporary swapping might play a critical role in the fashion marketplace transition to sustainable consumption practices because it provides a middle ground between product ownership and non-ownership and thus facilitates gradual dematerialization of consumer lifestyle.

Despite the urgency of protecting the environment, unsustainable apparel consumption continues to damage it. We identified some of the most important consumer concerns (i.e., affordability, social desirability, environment protection) from the literature that influence consumers’ sustainable apparel purchase intentions and proposed a conceptual model grounded in the Elaboration Likelihood Model to test the efficacy of user-centric advertisements in encouraging purchase intentions for sustainable apparel. We conducted a between-subject experiment with female millennials in the U.S. (n = 344). Analyzing the data through ANCOVA, MANCOVA, and structural equation modeling, we evinced that (i) irrespective of involvement with environmental issues, user-centric advertisements could be centrally (thoughtfully) processed when they incorporate consumers’ concerns for affordability, social desirability, and environment protection; (ii) the central processing of user-centric advertisements mediates the relationship between advertisement modalities (textual and textual with visual) and affective response toward sustainable apparel; (iii) the processing of user-centric advertisements evokes favorable affective responses (e.g., desire) and minimizes unfavorable affective responses (e.g., boredom) toward sustainable apparel; and (iv) favorable and unfavorable affective responses positively and negatively influence purchase intentions for sustainable apparel, respectively. Based on our findings, we recommend that marketers should communicate how sustainable apparel meets consumers’ concerns of affordability, social desirability, and environment protection in a holistic manner instead of using pro-environmental cues only.

In rural China, successful and sustainable business model design has been viewed as an important strategy to achieve a win–win scenario in which rural poverty can be alleviated and enterprise profit can be improved. Although business model related literature is strong, it lacks a comprehensive framework for appraising business models in rural markets. As a result, entrepreneurs are facing significant challenges in implementing their market development centered business models or resource development centered business models. This study draws on case analysis to present two frameworks for evaluating the two types of business models, respectively. Through open coding and axial coding on eight Chinese cases, we identify the main components for the evaluation frameworks and critical factors within each component. Using the coding results as a lens, we apply a cross-case comparative data analysis to establish the multi-level evaluation systems. Finally, we provide suggestions for entrepreneurs and other stakeholders to better their business model design in China’s rural markets.

To contribute to achieving local and global sustainability, we propose a novel educational methodology, called field environmental philosophy (FEP), which orients ecotourism practices to reconnect citizens and nature. FEP is based on the systemic approach of the biocultural ethic that values the vital links among the life habits of co-inhabitants (humans and other-than-humans) who share a common habitat. Based on this “3Hs” model (habitats, co-inhabitants, habits), FEP combines tourism with experiential education to reorient biocultural homogenization toward biocultural conservation. FEP’s methodological approach seeks to integrate social, economic, and environmental dimensions of sustainability by generating new links between biological and cultural diversity at different spatial and social scales. Ecotourism has an underutilized potential to link sciences with education and conservation practices at different scales. By incorporating a philosophical foundation, FEP broadens both understanding and practices of environmental education and sustainable tourism. FEP has been developed at the Omora Ethnobotanical Park in the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, Chile, at the southern end of the Americas since 2000, where it has oriented transdisciplinary work for the creation of new protected areas and ecotourism practices. FEP enables an integration of biophysical, cultural, and institutional dimensions into the design of ecotourism activities that transform and broaden the perceptions of tourists, local guides, students, and other participants to better appreciate local biological and cultural diversity. FEP’s methodology is starting to be adapted in other world regions, such as Germany, Japan, and Mexico, to integrate education and ecotourism for sustainability.