Sustainability and Social Responsibility

Analyzing Twitter Social Network to Identify Consumer Opinions Regarding Sweatshop and Unethical Labor Practices

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Abstract

Clothing and Textile industries carry a significant contribution to the global economy. However, the negative aspect of the seemingly productive economic activities is also highlighted by sweatshop labor practices. In response, consumers started to put pressure on retailers to increase the standards of working conditions and labor treatment. In recent years, social media has played a significant role in raising such awareness among consumers regarding ethical business practices. The purpose of this study was to analyze Twitter user-generated data on sweatshops to investigate the opinion of users regarding sweatshop labor. An inductive content analysis was conducted to analyze the data collected from the tweeter. The analysis shows a clear indication that the sweatshops were out of the ethical norms of our society. However, it appears that most tweets were highly opinionated against consumers, brands, or a sector without a clear rationale, and very few were relating the issues to their responsibilities.

Keywords: Sweatshop, social network analysis, Unethical, Twitter

How to Cite:

Haque, F. & Park-Poaps, H., (2019) “Analyzing Twitter Social Network to Identify Consumer Opinions Regarding Sweatshop and Unethical Labor Practices”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 76(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.8829