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Sustainability as Social Contract: Textile and Apparel Professionals’ Value Conflicts within the Corporate Moral Responsibility Spectrum

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  • Rachel LoMonaco-Benzing

    (Department of Textile and Apparel Management, University of Missouri, 137 Stanley Hall, Columbia 65211, MO, USA)

  • Jung Ha-Brookshire

    (Department of Textile and Apparel Management, University of Missouri, 137 Stanley Hall, Columbia 65211, MO, USA)

Abstract

Current discussions of sustainability in the textile and apparel (T&A) supply chain tend to focus on consumer behavior or methods of production. Few studies investigate how T&A supply chain members experience corporate sustainability initiatives within their own moral value spectrum. This study was designed to describe the gaps that might exist between personal and corporate moral values of T&A supply chain members, and how individuals manage such gaps to align personal and corporate identities. The researchers investigated the views of ten T&A supply chain members residing in the United States, both as employees and consumers of T&A companies, through semi-structured interviews. Dunfee’s extant social contracts and Schwartz’s theory of basic values were used as theoretical frameworks to better understand the participants’ lived experiences in negotiating personal and corporate expectations. The findings revealed three themes: (a) nature of the value gap; (b) frustration due to the value gap; and (c) strategies to manage the value gap. The strategies used to realign values split into either those that held sustainability as their responsibility and worked to move corporate values toward their personal values; or those that shifted the blame to others so that their values could remain untouched.

Suggested Citation

  • Rachel LoMonaco-Benzing & Jung Ha-Brookshire, 2016. "Sustainability as Social Contract: Textile and Apparel Professionals’ Value Conflicts within the Corporate Moral Responsibility Spectrum," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-19, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:8:y:2016:i:12:p:1278-:d:84652
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    3. Dongwook Kim & Sungbum Kim, 2017. "Sustainable Supply Chain Based on News Articles and Sustainability Reports: Text Mining with Leximancer and DICTION," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-44, June.
    4. Sumera Ahmad & Suraya Miskon & Rana Alabdan & Iskander Tlili, 2020. "Towards Sustainable Textile and Apparel Industry: Exploring the Role of Business Intelligence Systems in the Era of Industry 4.0," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-23, March.
    5. George C. Homsy, 2018. "Unlikely pioneers: creative climate change policymaking in smaller U.S. cities," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 8(2), pages 121-131, June.
    6. Kuo-Kuang Fan & Yi-Ting Chang, 2023. "Exploring the Key Elements of Sustainable Design from a Social Responsibility Perspective: A Case Study of Fast Fashion Consumers’ Evaluation of Green Projects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-20, January.
    7. Ivan Bolis & Sandra Naomi Morioka & Wilza Karla dos Santos Leite & Paulo César Zambroni-de-Souza, 2021. "Sustainability Is All about Values: The Challenges of Considering Moral and Benefit Values in Business Model Decisions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-19, January.
    8. Bin Shen & Qingying Li & Ciwei Dong & Patsy Perry, 2017. "Sustainability Issues in Textile and Apparel Supply Chains," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-6, September.
    9. Saheli Goswami & Gargi Bhaduri, 2023. "Communicating Moral Responsibility: Stakeholder Capitalism, Types, and Perceptions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-17, March.
    10. S M Fijul Kabir & Samit Chakraborty & S M Azizul Hoque & Kavita Mathur, 2019. "Sustainability Assessment of Cotton-Based Textile Wet Processing," Clean Technol., MDPI, vol. 1(1), pages 1-15, September.

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