Management and Business Studies
Business School, University of Bristol
Start date: September 2024
Research topic: Unravelling Social Commerce’s Design Elements and Its Role in the Cycle of Fashion Overconsumption
My research explores how social commerce (an integration of social media and e-commerce) contributes to the overconsumption of fast fashion, despite growing awareness of its environmental impact. Platforms like Instagram and TikTok integrate entertainment with shopping, driving impulsive, trend-focused purchases among young consumers. This sociocultural phenomena highlights a disconnect between environmental concerns and actual behaviors, rooted in societal pressures and normalised fast fashion consumption. By investigating social commerce’s design elements, I aim to understand how social commerce perpetuates fast fashion and identify what these ingrained consumption norms are that inhibit more sustainable shopping practices.
Research supervisors: Dr Fiona Spotswood, Professor Caroline Moraes