The COVID-19 pandemic and rising demand for transparency has heightened the importance of sustainability communications on social media to generate deeper stakeholder engagement. Although B Corporations (B Corps), businesses committed to the triple bottom line (TBL), could serve as a catalyst for sustainable development, little is known about how they communicate on social media during a crisis. Therefore, we examined social media communications of B Corps to (1) identify salient topics and themes, (2) analyze how these themes align with the TBL, and (3) evaluate social media performance against industry benchmarks. We focused on the apparel, footwear, and accessories (AFA) sectors in the U.S. and chose Twitter, a platform known for crisis communication. Using a qualitative method, we found four topics and 21 underlying themes. Topics related to social/environmental issues and COVID-19 were most dominant, followed by product/brand promotions. Further classification of specific themes and cases from a TBL perspective demonstrated that, overall, B Corps in the AFA sectors leveraged various approaches to promote balance between each TBL dimension. Lastly, although collectively B Corps exceeded some of the Twitter industry benchmarks, at an individual level, most brands had room for improvement to build a stronger community and promote synergy among the three pillars of the TBL.

Purpose: – The purpose of this paper is to examine the range of realignment strategies employed by retailers in the USA in response to the 2008 economic recession.Design/methodology/approach: – Following the grounded theory approach, National Retail Federation News Briefs published between 2008 and 2011 were analyzed by sorting them into thematic categories and comparing trends in strategic decisions during the recession (2008-2009) and after the recession (2010-2011). Based on the emergent categories, propositions were developed to provide theoretical explanations of the findings.Findings: – The authors found five thematic categories of realignment strategies: promotional, organizational, price, operational, and product realignments. In line with contingency theories, retailers used these strategies to achieve a greater fit with the altered business environment and consumer consumption patterns. While promotional realignment was most prevalent, followed by organizational realignment, different realignment strategies were pursued based on the strategic focus and long-term vs short-term orientation of the retailers.Originality/value: – The contribution of the findings is twofold: filling a critical gap in the literature examining the range of realignment decisions of the US retail industry in response to the recent economic recession; and enhancing the theoretical understanding of underlying factors or mechanisms of specific realignment decisions in the context of a turbulent economic environment.

We examined public reactions to the U.S. House vote to decriminalize cannabis at the federal level. Using Twitter data, we analyzed public sentiment, top hashtags used, and underlying themes in the discourse. Users with a wide range of profiles were engaged in this chatter, predominantly expressing positive sentiment with various thematic hashtags. The conversations were centered around five major topics: commentary on the House vote, legalization impediment in the Senate, expungement of marijuana-related criminal records, medical use of marijuana, and social and economic impact of the bill. We discussed ethical and regulatory implications for retailing and marketing.

Purpose of Study: The purpose of this study was to assess student preference for procedural (formula-driven) versus conceptual (concept-driven) approaches to solve mathematical problems. Additionally, we evaluated differences in preferences among students who performed above average and those who performed at or below average on simple arithmetic problems. Methods/Design and Sample: We used a single-factor (Instructional Approach: conceptual vs. procedural) between-subjects experiment. Instructional approach was manipulated using short embedded instructional videos. Students evaluated each approach on a five-point scale. Results: We found that students (above-average and average/below-average) preferred the procedural approach to the conceptual approach. Interestingly, however, although students preferred the procedural approach when first introduced to it, above-average students evaluated the conceptual approach more positively if they were unable to solve a problem correctly and were presented with additional conceptual instruction. On the other hand, there was no change in the evaluation of the procedural approach. Value to Marketing Educators: The findings of this study indicate that students develop mathematical knowledge and understanding differently. Faculty who teach courses with a high degree of mathematics concepts should work to provide multiple experiences that include both procedural and conceptual techniques to develop a holistic understanding of mathematics.

Data centers are essential to modern infrastructure, but are significant contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) and related environmental challenges. Despite energy efficiency improvements, rising electricity demands driven by technologies like AI pose challenges to sustaining low-emission sector growth. Regulatory requirements mandate data center operators to report electricity use and emissions, yet current methods, particularly pertaining to indirect sources, remain insufficient. This study explores how life cycle assessment (LCA)-based estimates of data center IT equipment impacts compared with commonly used corporate GHG accounting methods: average-data and spend-based. Environmental impacts were modeled at both grouped and granular levels to support enterprise-wide reporting and operational decision-making. Sensitivity and uncertainty analysis validate the robustness of the LCA models. Scenario analysis was also conducted to assess emission abatement strategies, including on-site renewable energy generation and operation with a low-carbon electricity grid. The results show that the LCA approach produced emissions of 0.710 CO₂ eq/kWh, along with additional burdens that are not captured through carbon-only metrics. The LCA results are closely aligned with the average-data method (0.723 kg CO₂ eq/kWh) while the spend-based method yielded substantially higher estimates (1.07 kg CO₂ eq/kWh), highlighting the inaccuracies associated with volatile market prices. Scenario analysis identifies grid decarbonization as the most effective mitigation pathway, while also demonstrating environmental trade-offs across impact categories. Findings highlight the importance of comprehensive LCA-based assessment methods to improve emission reporting accuracy, transparency, and sustainability-focused decision-making in the data center sector.