As the next generation of smartphone and tablet computers, wearable devices are currently being developed and available in market in various forms. Smart clothing is a wearable device that holds the greatest potential for future development but low in market penetration. This study was designed to identify factors that influence adoption and diffusion of smart clothing. In-depth interviews with potential consumers who were knowledgeable about and interested in smart clothing were conducted. A semantic network analysis method was used. The results showed that consumers perceived smart clothing as a garment rather than as a type of wearable device and had a positive perception of smart apparel as more convenient and advanced than functional apparel. At the same time, however, consumers had a negative perception of smart clothing as unnecessary, ugly, and injurious to health. Consumers also worried that wearing smart apparel over long periods of time would negatively impact their health. Factors affecting resistance to smart apparel included low utility, perceived risk, and lack of aesthetic completeness. Usefulness and convenience were factors that affected the acceptance of smart clothing. The innovativeness of the product was more influential than consumer innovativeness in the process of adoption and diffusion of smart clothing.

Industrial innovation in Britain, during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, stimulated the introduction of the factory system and the migration of people from rural agricultural communities to urban industrial societies. The factory system brought elevated levels of economic growth to the purveyors of capitalism, but forced people to migrate into cities where working conditions in factories were, in general, harsh and brutal, and living conditions were cramped, overcrowded and unsanitary. Industrial developments, known collectively as the ‘Industrial Revolution’, were driven initially by the harnessing of water and steam power, and the widespread construction of rail, shipping and road networks. Parallel with these changes, came the development of purchasing ‘middle class’, consumers. Various technological ripples (or waves of innovative activity) continued (worldwide) up to the early-twenty-first century. Of recent note are innovations in digital technology, with associated developments, for example, in artificial intelligence, robotics, 3-D printing, materials technology, computing, energy storage, nano-technology, data storage, biotechnology, ‘smart textiles’ and the introduction of what has become known as ‘e-commerce’. This paper identifies the more important early technological innovations, their influence on textile manufacture, distribution and consumption, and the changed role of the designer and craftsperson over the course of these technological ripples. The implications of non-ethical production, globalisation and so-called ‘fast fashion’ and non-sustainability of manufacture are examined, and the potential benefits and opportunities offered by new and developing forms of social media are considered. The message is that hand-crafted products are ethical, sustainable and durable.

By adopting transactional social commerce functions from mobile apps, individuals can sell products and services directly to friends on their contact list. This drives micro entrepreneurs with fewer than ten employees and less than a €2million annual balance (European Union Law, 2013) to become key drivers for economic growth (Paoloni & Dumay, 2011). In particular, individuals aged 18-34 become inspired by images on social networks for clothing and fashion products. Hence, fashion products are popular business items for micro-entrepreneurs. Despite potential benefits for social commerce, micro-fashion entrepreneurs in many countries are still unaware of apps’ use in social commerce to sell products, and to create and manage social capital for their business. This exploratory research aimed to investigate how micro-fashion entrepreneurs adopt transactional-focused social commerce and utilize social capital embedded in network ties for their marketing and sales, based on innovation diffusion and social capital theory. Research questions included: (1) How do micro-fashion entrepreneurs adopt social commerce? (2) How does social capital in network ties contribute to marketing and sales in social commerce? To answer these research questions, qualitative data from phone interviews with 16 micro-fashion entrepreneurs selling fashion products through WeChat in China were analyzed, adopting a thematic analysis. Data indicated micro-fashion entrepreneurs have positive attitudes, based on their experience and knowledge of WeChat. They adopt social commerce to (1) sell products in a new way, (2) connect with customers, and (3) reduce financial risk, while an innovative channel for entrepreneurship. Also, operating a business through WeChat required less time commitment compared with brick and mortar, and online stores, because accessing services like WeChat have payment systems, share images and messages. Free calls and messages are already available. The interview data demonstrated micro-entrepreneurs have an advantage when adopting social network ties in WeChat and implementing social capital embedded in marketing sales networks. Structural, relational, and cognitive capital contribute to micro-entrepreneurs’ marketing and sales interactively. An individual could access target customers, based on networks already established social media platforms and facilitate entrepreneurs’ adoption of social commerce. Also, since trust, shared goals, and languages exist on these network ties, there exists an increase for entrepreneurs’ accessibility to use social commerce to initiate their business, while decreasing business operating expenses, promoting products, and building relationships with customers. In addition, relational capital built by interactions with each customer brings cognitive capital to promote products and strong network ties.

The paper addresses the phenomenon of the opportunism that arises from a parent (principal) toward an IJV (agent) and its antecedents. This study integrates Agency Theory and Resource Dependence Theory (RDT) to discover its determinants from the perspectives of principal opportunism. Using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) techniques and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) based on a sample of 185 Chinese-foreign IJVs in China, which are useful to reals the overall story of the principal opportunism. This study finds an IJV depends on parents’ support in both knowledge- and property-based resources has more chances to subject to principal opportunism. The result also indicates that psychic distance has a negative impact on principal opportunism. fsQCA, however, provides further solutions that the specific combinations of these predictors or their negation predicts principle opportunism.