Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2021, Integrated Bioscience

Biomimicry has become increasingly popular within corporate R&D departments, as a design process to drive sustainable innovation. However, there is limited research to inform best practice. In addition, given the current climate crisis government regulations, consumers, and stakeholders are demanding that corporate sustainability practices advance beyond business-orientated sustainable innovation to include ecology orientated sustainability practices. Business as usual in the pursuit of profit does not address the environmental damage of our consumer society or support the transformational shift in the human-environmental relationship that is required to combat the climate crisis. This body of work begins to reveal the potential of biomimicry to advance a diversity of corporate sustainability goals from sustainable innovation, sustainable marketing and even human resource metrics regarding employee engagement, retention and recruitment. This work also provides evidence for biomimicry practice to advance corporate sustainability to include ecological-orientated practices. Through design, by advancing biomimicry as an approach to sustainable innovation, and through behaviour, by intrinsically motivating corporate practitioners to engage in collaborative and immersive biomimicry practice to reconnect to the natural world to begin to transform the human-environment relationship and address our climate crisis.

Committee: Peter H. Niewiarowski (Advisor); Joelle D. Elicker (Committee Member); Tom Weis (Committee Member); Jacquelyn Nagel (Committee Member); Gary M. Holliday (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Psychology; Climate Change; Cognitive Psychology; Conservation; Curriculum Development; Education; Environmental Education; Environmental Studies; Experimental Psychology; Organizational Behavior; Sustainability; Teaching

Master of Environmental Science, Miami University, 2005, Environmental Sciences

In order to assess the state of Miami's environmental stewardship this author coordinated a Campus Environmental Sustainability Assessment of Miami University's operations. The assessment featured 13 indicators in three categories: operational, institutional, and community outreach. The indicators were selected for their relevance to Miami's environmental impact and responsibilities, and to larger environmental issues. The results were organized into the report that follows, including inventories of sustainability initiatives, peer institution comparisons, highlighted opportunities for improvement, and recommendations designed to take advantage of those opportunities.

Committee: Adolph Greenberg (Advisor) Subjects: Environmental Sciences

Bachelor of Arts, Wittenberg University, 2020, Sociology

This is a study that looks at the environmental attitudes of students at Wittenberg University. The study examines attitudes and behavior through the lens of the theorists Vaclav Havel and Karl Marx. Participants were asked to take a brief survey that accessed their carbon footprint, asked them what they knew about climate change and how environmentally friendly they thought they were. Then participants were asked if they would be interested in participating in an interview. The interviews asked a variety of questions ranging from personal opinion on climate change to participants' actual behavior and included an education piece on what Wittenberg does for the environment. Through interviews and surveys, this study's aim was to find commonalities and differences between participant responses and their reasoning behind their positions and behaviors. The study found that many participants felt that they needed to be able to buy more or different products in order to be more environmentally friendly. The study also found that participants were greatly influenced by professors or classes to be more ethical in environmental decisions.

Committee: Nona Moskowitz (Advisor); Sheryl Cunningham (Committee Member); Sarah Fortner (Committee Member) Subjects: Climate Change; Environmental Justice; Environmental Studies; Sociology; Sustainability

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2020, City and Regional Planning

This dissertation presents a comprehensive analytical framework for examining urban green infrastructure and its urban planning implications. Comprised of four essays, this research investigates the concepts, measurement, modeling and implications of urban green spaces and vegetation (UGSV). Leveraging the increasing variety and precision of geospatial big data and techniques, this research characterizes the heterogeneity of UGSV in terms of physical form and functions to inform the effective environmental design of UGSV. The first and second essays present methods for the assessment of spatial patterns of UGSV and their socioeconomic accessibility using various green measures. Remote sensing, GIS and pattern recognition techniques are used to measure UGSV over large geographic areas with fine thematic resolution. The third and fourth essays deal with planning applications, focusing on the relationship between UGSV, sustainable mobility and microclimate moderation. The results imply that urban and suburban neighborhoods experience significant disparities in terms of socioenvironmental benefits provided by UGSV, and the assessment of how and where the inequity occurs varies with green measures and applications. UGSV relates closely to the long-term sustainability of active travel and thermal environment, while the benefits are likely to be spatially and socially limited to certain groups, requiring targeted planning interventions. This dissertation highlights the importance of a multidisciplinary understanding of `greenness' in urban areas, suggesting that divergent understandings in different fields should be integrated to formulate a coherent strategy for green infrastructure planning.

Committee: Jean-Michel Guldmann (Advisor); Gulsah Akar (Advisor); Desheng Liu (Committee Member) Subjects: Urban Planning

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2018, English (Arts and Sciences)

Beset with political, social, economic, cultural, and environmental degradation, along with the imminent threat of nuclear war, the world might be at its end. Building upon Richard Miller's inquiry from Writing at the End of the World, this dissertation investigates if it is “possible to produce [and teach] writing that generates a greater connection to the world and its inhabitants.” I take up Paul Lynch's notion of the apocalyptic turn and suggest that when writers Kurt Spellmeyer, Richard Miller, Derek Owens, Robert Yagelski, Lynn Worsham, and Ann Cvetkovich confront disaster, they reach an impasse whereby they begin to question disciplinary assumptions such as critique and pose inventive ways to think about writing and writing pedagogy that emphasize the notion and practice of connecting to the everyday. Questioning the familiar and cultivating what Jane Bennett terms “sensuous enchantment with everyday” are ethical responses to the apocalypse; nonetheless, I argue that disasters and death master narratives will continually resurface if we think that an apocalyptic mindset can fully account for the complexity and irreducibility of lived experience. Drawing upon Zen, new materialism, and Yagelski's theory of writing as a way of being, I call attention to the affective dimensions of capitalism, anti-apocalyptic thinking, and environmental writing pedagogies that run contrary to capitalist-driven environmental disaster.

Committee: Sherrie Gradin (Advisor); Talinn Phillips (Committee Member); Robert Miklitsch (Committee Member); Wolfgang Sützl (Committee Member) Subjects: Composition; Rhetoric

BA, Oberlin College, 2017, Environmental Studies

This article explores unintended consequences of recent urban design initiatives in Cleveland, Ohio. Historically rife with environmental injustice issues, Cleveland's built environment continues to exhibit issues of distributive justice across racialized spaces. In this research project, I first investigate whether and how New Urbanist aesthetics are geared towards a white spatial imaginary and subsequently deconstructing its whiteness. I seek to answer: is New Urbanism inherently racist? I then explore how New Urbanism in the U.S. has spread into circles of sustainable urban design, pushing space and place towards a homogenized normativity. Third, I examine the history of racial prejudice in urban planning in Cleveland. Lastly, I analyze census data surrounding neighborhoods in which sustainable urban design initiatives have been implemented or are underway. In analyzing how these neighborhoods are changing as a result of these initiatives, I look for the presence of New Urbanist aesthetics or the realization of some their principles and theory. I hope to uncover some of the indirect effects of projects deemed sustainable. The purpose of this project is to look critically at initiatives that are gauged as sustainable, widening the discussion of sustainability in planning and architecture to purposefully encompass factors related to social equity and justice, beyond the ones related to environmental sustainability.

Committee: Md. Rumi Shammin (Committee Chair); Greggor Mattson (Committee Member); Peter Minosh (Committee Member) Subjects: Architecture; Environmental Studies; Urban Planning

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2016, Environment and Natural Resources

Scholars and policymakers have become increasingly interested in how to conceptualize and measure well-being. This interest is important for understanding how to improve the human condition without degrading environmental systems upon which well-being ultimately depends – a central question for sustainability. Therefore, it is crucial to explore what kinds of lifestyles and consumption patterns produce high well-being with relatively low environmental impacts. My study addresses this question at the household-level. Following a call for the development and use of context-specific metrics when measuring well-being, I developed a metric for Columbus, Ohio that is based on insights from the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA). The metric is based on feedback from residents about what is important for a fulfilling life and how they rank the various components of well-being. I distributed a structured survey in two Columbus neighborhoods to measure baseline well-being, identify factors that explain variation in well-being, and measure individual ecological footprints. To examine the relationship between well-being and environmental impacts, I calculated the environmental efficiency of well-being (EWEB) for each respondent and investigate household-level factors that allow some individuals to generate relatively high levels of well-being with low environmental impacts. The findings indicate that absolute and relative wealth are significantly associated with higher well-being and EWEB; but their effects are diminished for the psychological components of well-being. Identifying with one's neighborhood is a strong predictor of both well-being and EWEB although the strength of this relationship depends on one's neighborhood of residence. I call for future research into this neighborhood-level relationship to enhance the growing literature on the interplay between well-being, environmental impacts, and neighborhood conditions and social dynamics.

Committee: Jeremy Brooks (Advisor); Kristi Lekies (Committee Member); Maria Manta Conroy (Committee Member) Subjects: Environmental Science; Environmental Studies; Social Research; Sustainability

Master of Environmental Science, Miami University, 2014, Environmental Sciences

Through the Master of Environmental Science program with the Institute for the Environment and Sustainability (IES) and my time as an intern with the environmental consulting firm, Parsons Corporation, I have gained a significant amount of knowledge and experience for work within the environmental consulting field. I now have a clear understanding of the environmental laws and regulations that are relevant to the permitting process for pipeline construction projects. I am capable of conducting low-flow groundwater sampling projects. I have gained experience with wetland mitigation and wetland delineation, and I have found a niche within this industry. Through the courses offered in the IES program, I was able to gain the skills necessary to be successful in the consulting field. This program taught me the importance of stakeholder input, clear communication and teamwork, and has led me to a bright future in the consulting industry.

Committee: Vincent Hand PhD (Advisor); Jason Rech PhD (Committee Member); Richard Munson PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Environmental Health; Environmental Law; Environmental Science

MS, University of Cincinnati, 2014, Engineering and Applied Science: Environmental Science

The goal of this study was to evaluate the potential environmental impacts from air emissions of alternative food waste management options for UC campus dining halls and to recommend the best management option based on air emissions and economic cost. The alternative food waste management options evaluated were landfilling, aerobic composting, and anaerobic digestion (AD). The environmental impact categories considered were global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP) and eutrophication potential (EP). In this study the air emissions that contribute to GWP, AP, and EP were converted to an equivalent amount of CO2, SO2 and PO4, respectively. From an environmental perspective, i.e., the gaseous emission results indicated that anaerobic digestion would be the best option for food waste management, followed by composting and then landfilling. The emission from anaerobic digestion over one semester's food waste was -37,203 kg CO2-eq, 3.72 kg-SO2-eq and 0.34 kg-PO4-eq. From the economic analysis, UC is currently paying significantly more for composting ($0.281/kg-food waste) than landfilling ($0.104/kg-food waste). If a compost or anaerobic digestion facility were built onsite, the true cost over a 20 year life cycle period was estimated to be $0.048/kg-food waste for onsite composting and $0.107/kg-food waste for onsite anaerobic digestion. The payback period for the compost facility and anaerobic digestion facilities were predicted to be 102 months (8.5 years) and 78 months (6.5 years), respectively.

Committee: Drew McAvoy Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Margaret Kupferle Ph.D. P.E. (Committee Member); Claire Sweigart J.D. (Committee Member); Lilit Yeghiazarian Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Environmental Science

Master of Environmental Science, Miami University, 2013, Environmental Sciences

In fulfillment of the Masters of Environmental Sciences (M.En.) at Miami University, Ohio, I completed a seven month internship with the National Park Service (NPS) at Acadia National Park in Maine. I was able to participate in a wide variety of projects ranging from falcon and eagle banding to monitoring Common Loon nesting sites. All of the projects served to fulfill the NPS mission to preserve the parks natural beauty and wildlife for future generations.

Committee: David Russell PhD (Committee Chair); Robbyn Abbitt (Committee Member); Sandra Woy-Hazelton PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Environmental Science

MA, Kent State University, 2024, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Foundations, Leadership and Administration

The purpose of this thesis is to explore why schools ought to educate for sustainability in response to the climate emergency. Moreover, the author explores why the elementary school is an appropriate place to begin such education as well as how such education can be implemented in the field of music education, specifically elementary music education. The research questions for this thesis are as follows: (1) Why should schools educate for sustainability? (2) Why is elementary school an appropriate place to begin education for sustainability (EfS)? (3) Why is the general music classroom a worthy space for EfS? The author uses social and educational theory, philosophy, and findings from other research to answer these questions. This thesis reviews and synthesizes research, theory, and philosophy from various foundational disciplines. This thesis concludes that EfS ought to be included in the school and begin at the elementary level. Every subject and teacher ought to consider how their subject might help attune students to nature and its protection for the sake of our love for the world, our subjects, and teaching. This thesis specifically explores and argues for EfS in the general music classroom, but practitioners in every field ought to consider EfS in their subject's context.

Committee: Tricia Niesz (Committee Chair); Elizabeth Kenyon (Committee Member); Natasha Levinson (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Education Philosophy; Educational Theory; Elementary Education; Environmental Education; Environmental Philosophy; Music; Music Education; School Administration; Teaching

MS, Kent State University, 2022, College of Architecture and Environmental Design

The construction industry's environmental impact is a growing concern, necessitating a shift towards sustainable practices. The construction industry is the leading cause of carbon emissions and greenhouse gases (Globalabc, 2019). The global construction industry is increasingly likely to fall short of the promise of the Paris Agreement to decarbonize by 2050 (Paris Agreement, 2015). To reach the goal, our standard for sustainability and environmental sustainability must be higher. As the paradigm of construction and materials shifts towards sustainable practices, we must conduct a comprehensive assessment of different materials and processes. This research introduces a comprehensive approach to the environmental assessment of Mass Timber, specifically cross-laminated timber (CLT) using the Environmental Value Engineering (EVE) methodology. When comparing different environmental assessment methodologies such as cost-benefit analysis, Life Cycle Cost Analysis, Input-Output Analysis, EMERGY analysis, and EVE analysis it was found that only EVE is the unique methodology that incorporates all the inputs of Environment, Fuel, Goods, and Services throughout the life cycle. Acknowledging the environmental challenges posed by construction, the study focuses on comparing the environmental effects of CLT. Analyzing each life cycle phase, including the resource formation stages, is crucial as the raw material for mass timber is renewable and comes from nature. Grounded in the need for a holistic assessment method, the study aims to bridge gaps in the evaluation of the environmental effect of cross-laminated timber. It employs a quantitative and qualitative approach, utilizing EMERGY values as the cornerstone for the analysis. From the EVE analysis, the Transformity of the cross-laminated timber was determined to be 6.48E+11 solar emjoules/board foot. The EMERGY of a 20'X10' CLT panel was calculated to be 8.91E+14 SEJ. The analysis of individual life cycle phases revealed tha (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Dr. Lameck Onsarigo (Committee Chair); Dr. Anthony Mirando (Committee Member); Dr. Simon Adamtey (Committee Member) Subjects: Architectural; Architecture; Civil Engineering; Environmental Engineering; Environmental Studies

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2024, Civil Engineering

Single-use products are prevalent in the healthcare field and contribute to 5.9 million tons of waste per year to landfills located in the United States. These single-use products also account for 8% of total US carbon dioxide emissions. In the healthcare field, there is limited research available to analyze the impacts these products have on the United States. When you refine the scope to specific healthcare practices, such as dentistry, the research available is even further limited. This study analyzes three dental procedures for their single-use plastic contribution. The three procedures are a hygiene cleaning, a composite restoration, and an extraction. These three procedures were chosen due to a hygiene cleaning being recommended for preventative care every six months, and the extraction and restoration were chosen as they are procedures that can be a result for lack of preventative care. These procedures are analyzed using an environmental impact tool called Life Cycle Assessment. Life Cycle Assessments generates the impacts from a product, process or service and analyzes environmental impacts under different categories to generate units of measure to convey impacts. The data that is currently available using Life Cycle Assessments in the dental field is small and is nearly non-existent when you refine the scope to only being within the United States. Having geographical location-based information is important particularly for this study due to the differences in manufacturing and waste management systems in the United States. The results for this Life Cycle Assessment will be analyzed using midpoint and endpoint indicators as well as human health categories from different methodologies. Climate change is taking a toll on human health in the United States along with other nations. Unless greenhouse gases are reduced significantly and actions are taken, impacts will be felt on surrounding communities and human health will be impacted. Taking preventative (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jeffrey Bielicki (Advisor); Kelsea Best (Committee Member); Daniel Gingerich (Committee Member) Subjects: Environmental Engineering; Environmental Health

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Ohio University, 2023, Environmental Studies

This thesis seeks to understand Appalachian farmers' and non-profit professionals' perceptions of the state of the food system and their place within to identify ways to move forward with food justice work and highlight some of the initiatives already happening in the region. Through a series of in-depth interviews with five regional foodway experts and analyses of relevant organizations' mission statements, I provide insight into the work being done in Appalachia to navigate post-coal economies and pressures against the success of local food systems, the way this work shapes identities and perceptions of and relationships with land and food, and where folks see opportunities for additional work and progress. My findings emphasize a need for greater societal awareness of injustices within the food system and more opportunities for communities to mobilize and regain agency over their livelihoods and food sovereignty.

Committee: Stephen J. Scanlan PhD (Advisor) Subjects: Agriculture; Environmental Studies; Sociology

MDES, University of Cincinnati, 2023, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Design

Environmental concerns continue to increase daily, leaving many wondering what they might do to minimize their impact on the planet. As a result, it is critical to educate the general public, particularly secondary school students, about embracing more sustainable practices. As these students will become our society's future designers and consumers, it is crucial to equip them with the necessary tools and knowledge to foster a more responsible future for our environment and climate. This starts with smart, responsible design. As the Ellen MacArthur Foundation says, “Waste and pollution does not exist by accident, it is the result of design decisions” (2021). To adequately equip our future decision-makers, it is crucial to educate them on the importance of Circular Design (CD), a way of designing products that fit into the Circular Economy (CE). The CE is an environmentally sustainable “system of closed loops, where nothing becomes waste, and everything has value” (Foundation, 2021). However, CD is rarely integrated into the curricula of public schools, with sustainable education predominantly offered within Montessori environments or at the university level. This usually means that public school students are left out of this important equation. There is little evidence to support that CD is currently widely taught in many schooling environments. This research study aims to understand how we might best educate Gen Z public school students on the foundations of CD. Additionally, it seeks to determine whether an elevated level of content regarding CD can influence these students to become more conscientious about their role in the world and how they can apply these practices to their daily lives. Through three phases of applied research methods, this study explores how we might dress this gap. The first phase relies on a literature review to create CD learning tools for students and teachers, which were then refined with Montessori educators in (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Brooke Brandewie M.S. (Committee Member); Ashley Kubley M.F.A. (Committee Chair) Subjects: Environmental Education

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2023, Chemical Engineering (Engineering and Technology)

Recovering nutrients such as nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) from wastewater streams offers a promising solution to combat the eutrophication of natural water bodies and reduce operational costs in wastewater treatment plants. This will also introduce a sustainable P resource for agricultural activities and industry. This study utilized an impeller-planar electrochemical setup for P recovery from synthetic municipal digester supernatant, focusing on two main objectives. Firstly, a dimensionless correlation between mass and fluid transport was developed to investigate the effect of flow transfer and physical conditions on the mass transfer. Secondly, a Plackett-Burman design was employed to perform statistical screening analysis on ten variables classified into operational, design, and stream categories. Subsequently, the key variables affecting the P recovery and electrochemical specific energy consumption were introduced.

Committee: John Staser (Advisor) Subjects: Chemical Engineering; Sustainability

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, Agricultural, Environmental and Developmental Economics

Sustainability assessment is increasingly important due to concerns over increasing carbon damages and declining natural capital stocks. However, regional assessment is difficult due to lack of data and measurement, as well as theoretical issues due to how people and resources flow across space. The Inclusive Wealth (IW) framework offers a comprehensive approach to measuring the components of regional social welfare as the aggregate value of all capital assets in the region, and non-declining social welfare proxied by non-declining IW is defined as weak sustainability. In my three essays, I expand on the IW literature by creating novel regional estimates using the ideas of spatial equilibrium to estimate human capital, include population change within IW, and explain the spatial inequality of IW. Chapter 1 lays the groundwork for subsequent chapters by generating new regional measurements of human and health human capital by separating out the effect of health on productivity and increased well-being. I account for the inter-relationship between education and health, control for local amenities and sorting, and account for the impact of ecosystem services and social capital on health quality. I find that 47\% of counties are declining in total human capital from 2010-2017, the primary component of these declines is declining health quality which gets capitalized into productivity. These results emphasize urban-rural differences in human capital investment because a similar proportion of urban and rural counties are declining in health quality, but urban counties are able to compensate with increases in education to offset declines in health quality for productivity. Chapter 2 builds on Chapter 1 and creates an expanded IW regional framework which accounts for endogenous population and the interdependence of population and capital stock flows. I then empirically implement this approach to estimate the impact of exogenous population growth through agglomeratio (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Elena Irwin Dr. (Advisor) Subjects: Environmental Economics; Regional Studies; Sustainability

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2022, Antioch New England: Environmental Studies

As a social change discipline, social marketing has demonstrated its effectiveness in addressing many types of wicked problems. However, despite its utility in environmental contexts, it is neither well known nor widespread in its uptake in these settings. This study's purpose is to reveal opportunities to drive the adoption, implementation, and diffusion (“institutionalization”) of social marketing within the domains of environmental sustainability and natural resource conservation. This research considers the use of social marketing as an innovative practice within a diffusion of innovations framework and uses a systems lens to examine early adopter social marketing professionals and the institutional contexts in which they operate. It employs an exploratory sequential mixed-methods research design within a two-phased inquiry consisting of three independent but interconnected studies. The dataset includes 90 qualitative interviews and two quantitative surveys. The first phase of this research examined 1) challenges and opportunities facing the discipline, and 2) status and trends within social marketing formal academic training. Findings from this phase included a thematic analysis of challenges related to institutionalization that centered the conceptualization of the discipline alongside the importance of key aspects of organizational culture and the critical role of formal education and professional development opportunities. Recommendations were developed to address these challenges broadly as well as increase social marketing academic programming. The second phase consisted of a case study of environmental social marketing within the Pacific Northwest United States. Findings revealed several aspects of organizational culture and practice that can be considered success factors driving social marketing implementation, particularly the diffusion concepts of observability, relative advantage, adaptation and reinvention, and innovation champions. This study also i (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Abigail Abrash Walton PhD (Committee Chair); Meaghan Guckian PhD (Committee Member); Kayla Cranston PhD (Committee Member); Nancy Lee MBA (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Sciences; Conservation; Environmental Management; Environmental Science; Environmental Studies; Marketing; Pedagogy; Social Psychology; Social Research; Sustainability

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2022, Psychology

Although gratitude is often defined as being an emotion that motivates reciprocity and connectedness between people, individuals can also experience gratitude to nonhuman entities such as nature. Despite expressions of gratitude to nature being common in cultures throughout world, little research has examined its implications for sustainability. In two studies, the current research explored how writing letters of gratitude to nature might increase pro-environmental behavior by leading people to see nature as large and by leading to more inclusion of nature in one's self-concept. Study 1 compared the effects of nature gratitude letters to gratitude letters to built environments and to a neutral control condition, finding that nature gratitude letters led to greater inclusion of nature in self and greater nature size. Although there was no direct effect on intentions to act pro-environmentally, the nature gratitude letter had indirect effects leading to greater intentions via both increased nature size and nature inclusion. Study 2 aimed to replicate these findings and extend them by testing the role of two potential moderators: biospheric value orientation and personal norms of positive reciprocity. First, we found that the nature gratitude letter led to more nature inclusion, greater nature size, more self-transcendent emotion, and more pro-environmental behavioral intentions compared to the built gratitude letter. Second, an interaction was found such that the effect of the nature gratitude letter on pro-environmental behavioral intentions was only significant among those with average or greater endorsement of biospheric values. Implications for sustainability and emotion research are discussed.

Committee: Allen McConnell PhD (Committee Chair); Heather Claypool PhD (Committee Member); Jonathan Levy PhD (Committee Member); Jeffery Hunger PhD (Committee Member); Allison Farrell PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Social Psychology

MFIS, Kent State University, 2021, College of the Arts / School of Fashion

Fashion businesses today are progressively challenged by consumers to provide value beyond the latest design trends. With a multitude of brand choices available to them, consumers seek a narrative that makes them feel satisfied about their purchase. Consumers are searching for brands that help them live out their own social purpose through purchases that share aligning values of sustainability. The three overarching dimensions of sustainability are social, environmental and economic viability. However, without a leading purpose-driven narrative within a business, there is sometimes an inconsistency in aligning all three of these dimensions of sustainability. Small businesses are often the most flexible and innovative. They tend to come up with creative solutions to problems via novel business products, services, and practices. This thesis aims to investigate the strategies that small businesses use to balance the tensions in achieving the three types of sustainability goals. Data was collected through a critical literature review followed by a website content analysis. This data allows common attributes of these narrative-driven businesses to be determined within the quadruple bottom line theory. Of particular interest are “American Made” companies which address environmental concerns with practices such as up-cycling or recycling, and social concerns such as veterans' health and well-being. The Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) businesses analyzed, which have incorporated purpose-driven strategies, are Anne Cate, Sword and Plough, Alabama Chanin, Zero Waste Daniel, and United by Blue. These businesses were selected because they are United States-based fashion companies that incorporate practices that drive sustainability in their business model. From this information, a list of common attributes, best practices and tools was determined from the companies reviewed. The outcome produced a suggested business model for narrative-driven small businesses.

Committee: Noël Palomo-Lovinski (Advisor) Subjects: Business Community; Entrepreneurship; Marketing; Sustainability; Textile Research