Abstract
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.
Highlights
The fashion and textiles (F & T) industry faces the challenge of moving toward sustainable consumption and building an ecologically friendly market [1] (Kim, Kim, Oh, & Jung, 2016)
By conducting an analysis of vertex betweenness centrality (VBC) and vertex degree (VD), we recognized the top vertices as the influentials or social agents, reflecting the class hierarchy in socialization
Vertex profiles were discovered to be those of a technical writer, an environmentalist, homemakers, and merchandising managers who were in cluster G1 (Table 1)
Summary
The fashion and textiles (F & T) industry faces the challenge of moving toward sustainable consumption and building an ecologically friendly (eco-friendly) market [1] (Kim, Kim, Oh, & Jung, 2016). In the wake of the U.S administration’s decision to back out of the Paris environmental agreement, the “Earth–Shot on iPhone” project by Apple aimed to capture how beautiful our planet is through the lenses of everyday iPhone users [6] (Rogers, 2018). This is because social communication promotes awareness, motivates trial behaviors, reinforces purchase decisions, and sustains product loyalty, all of which may eventually lead to large-scale social movements whose members have shared beliefs and attitudes [7] (Kahle & Gurel-Atay, 2013)
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