Nancy J. Nelson Hodges

Nancy Hodges is the Burlington Industries Professor and Head of the Department of Consumer, Apparel, and Retail Studies (CARS) at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro (UNCG). Dr. Hodges earned her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1998 and has since been on the faculty at UNCG. She teaches General Education Core undergraduate courses on the cultural, historical, and social psychological factors of dress, and graduate courses on qualitative methodology, literature and thought, consumer research, and dress and identity. Dr. Hodges’ research examines issues of higher education and employment relative to the US and North Carolina textile, apparel, and retail industries. Dr. Hodges has garnered more than $1 million in external grant support for her research program. She recently completed a second, five-year project funded by the NC Agricultural Research Service on the changing workforce of North Carolina’s textile sector. She is also the Project Director and Co-PI of two USDA Higher Education Challenge Grants totaling approximately $800,000 focused on researching global industry trends for the purposes of curriculum design and assessment. She has published over 50 articles in refereed journals, including the Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal, and Women’s Studies International Forum. She has presented her research at numerous juried national and international conferences, and has been awarded a total of 8 different Paper of Distinction and Best Paper awards. In 2010 she received the Outstanding Paper Award from the Emerald Literati Network for one of her articles published in the Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management. In 2010 she was the UNCG recipient of the UNC Board of Governors Teaching Excellence award (one award is given per campus throughout the UNC system each year). In 2012 she received the Bryan School of Business and Economics Senior Research Excellence award. Most recently, she was awarded the 2013 Outstanding Mentor Award from The Graduate School of UNCG for her work advising and mentoring graduate students (one award is given at UNCG each year).

There are 43 included publications by Nancy J. Nelson Hodges :

TitleDateViewsBrief Description
Assessing Curriculum Designed to Foster Students’ Entrepreneurial Knowledge and Small Business Skills from a Global Perspective* 2015 1082 The purpose of this paper is to report on outcomes of a 3-year collaborative project that addresses the need for future professionals with entrepreneurial knowledge and small business skills. The multiphase project involved partnerships developed bet...
Collaborative Development of Textile and Apparel Curriculum Designed to Foster Students’ Global Competence 2011 871 Textile and apparel industry professionals must be capable of dealing with cultural differences and diverse perspectives on a multinational scale. To address the challenges involved in educating students for the global industry workforce, a 3-year co...
Collaborative Development of Textile and Apparel Curriculum Designed to Foster Students’ Global Competence 2011 414 Textile and apparel industry professionals must be capable of dealing with cultural differences and diverse perspectives on a multinational scale. To address the challenges involved in educating students for the global industry workforce, a 3-year co...
The Competitive Position of Thailand’s Apparel Industry: Challenges and Opportunities for Globalization 2010 9153 Purpose – Recent liberalization of the world's textile and apparel trade policies and the consequent changes in trade patterns posited threats to smaller textile- and apparel-exporting nations, including Thailand. Thus it is important to understand h...
Constructing Knowledge for the Future: Exploring Alternative Modes of Inquiry from a Philosophical Perspective 2007 1746 Clothing and textiles research is examined within a futuring framework to discuss potential avenues for development of thought within the field. A philosophical perspective linking ontology, epistemology, and methodology is posited as important to ex...
Consumer preference and apparel products: investigating the role of the Centrality of Visual Product Aesthetics concept 2021 1033 Despite academic interest in the Centrality of Visual Product Aesthetics (CVPA) construct, studies are needed that further explore the importance that specific visual aesthetic properties of apparel holds for consumers. Based on the two-factor theory...
Contemporary Irish textile artists: Exploring experiences of gender, culture, and artistic medium 2002 4214 The purpose of this study was to understand what textile art means in Irish culture and society through the lens of women who create it. The methodology used in this study was founded in part on the phenomenological exploration of meaning within live...
Cross-dressers in Cyberspace: Exploring the internet as a tool for expressing gendered identities 2002 5669 The authors explore the ways in which the Internet functions to communicate about cross-dressing as part of a larger cultural discourse surrounding gender. As a widely used tool to dialogue on the topic of appearance, the Internet also helps to estab...
Decoding typicality in apparel products: An investigation of consumer perceptions 2020 474 Typicality has drawn considerable interest among academics and practitioners and has been employed by fashion companies seeking to increase consumer interest in ‘basic' products. However, limited research on typicality focuses on apparel products, as...
Employment in the U.S. Textile and Apparel Industries: A Comparative Analysis of Regional vs. National Trends 2006 7431 Purpose – To examine the impact of changes in the US textile and apparel industries on employment patterns at the state level compared with the nation as a whole during the period of 1997-2003. Design/methodology/approach – Secondary data sources wer...
Employment in the US textile and apparel industries: A comparative analysis of regional vs national trends 2006 450 Purpose: To examine the impact of changes in the US textile and apparel industries on employment patterns at the state level compared with the nation as a whole during the period of 1997-2003. Design/methodology/approach: Secondary data sources were ...
Encouraging critical thinking in the classroom: An example from Aesthetics 1997 4607 This paper illustrates how critical thinking techniques could be used in teaching aesthetics. Exploring unfamiliar territory and moving freely between reflective and active thought processes are components important to both aesthetics and critical th...
An exploration of success factors from the perspective of global apparel entrepreneurs and small business owners: implications for apparel programmes in higher education 2016 1060 Given the high number of small-sized apparel-related businesses operating within the globaleconomy, it is likely that graduates of apparel programmes in higher education will go on towork for a small business or to partner with such firms in the glob...
Exploring Consumers’ Adoption of Highly Technological Fashion Products: The Role of Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivational Factors 2010 4854 Purpose – This study seeks to develop and test a model of consumers' adoption of highly technological fashion products (HTFPs) through modifying the technology acceptance model (TAM). Design/methodology/approach – Using a convenience sampling method...
Focused Issue on the Future: Introduction to Part I 2007 1543 As we move toward the second decade of the 21st century, the timing seems pertinent to take a focused look at the future. In the second issue of its second volume in 1984, the Clothing and Textiles Research Journal (CTRJ) published a future-focused i...
Focused Issue on the Future: Introduction to Part II 2008 1252 How will we dress in the future? How will we teach in the future? How will we design in the future? A special focused issue on the future in a field such as ours necessarily encompasses a broad range of approaches to the concept of ?futuring.? In thi...
Global products, global markets: Jeans in Korea and the United States 2002 3897 This cross-cultural study illustrates how products selected for their basic similarities are distinguished in use by cultural context. Jeans, a product manufactured in both South Korea and the United States, were selected as the research stimuli. Sub...
Implications of an educational intervention program designed to increase young adolescents’ awareness of hats for sun protection 1999 2330 This research examined the content and outcome of an educational intervention program designed to foster sun protective awareness and behaviors among young adolescents. Awareness of sun protection qualities, as well as preferences and stated intentio...
Increasing objective and subjective knowledge of the environmental impact of cotton and polyester apparel: implications for educating future industry professionals 2023 123791 This study examined students’ knowledge of the environmental impact of cotton and polyester along with their intentions to use them for producing apparel. This is the first study to measure both objective and subjective environmental knowledge among ...
Innovation by design 2019 513 In this paper, links between creativity, design, and innovation are explored through the literature specific to the textile and apparel industries. We discuss the ways that the apparel industry embodies entrepreneurial innovation through creativity a...
Investigating the role of apparel supplier satisfaction in developing a collaborative buyer–supplier relationship: a power-dependency perspective 2023 281 Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the affective and cognitive dimensions of satisfaction that impact the buyer-supplier relationship (BSR) from the supplier's perspective and to consider satisfaction within the context of power-dep...
Investigating the role of open costing in the buyer supplier relationship: Implications for global apparel supply chain management 2021 1029 Research in supply chain management focused on the buyer-supplier relationship (BSR) indicates that costing practices can impact relationship quality and performance. Yet, few studies have examined how the supplier’s costing methods affect the BSR. T...
An Investigation of Self-Concept, Clothing Selection Motivation, and Life Satisfaction among Disabled Consumers 2013 153 This study examined the impact that aspects of self-concept (i.e., generalized self-efficacy, public self-consciousness, state hope, self-esteem) have on clothing selection motivation and life satisfaction among disabled consumers. A total of 318 que...
An Investigation of Women’s Early Career Experiences in the Textile and Apparel Industries 2010 921 The experiences of female graduates of textile and apparel programs in the early stages of their industry careers were examined using two methods: (1) a questionnaire completed by textile and apparel companies, and (2) interviews with women employed ...
Jeans: A comparison of perceptions of meaning in Korea and the United States 1998 7864 The focus of this research was to determine what similarities or differences in meaning develop when one product, blue jeans, developed in one culture, is used in another. Students’ perceptions of blue jeans in the United States and Korea were the fo...
Listening to Jane Cunningham Croly’s “Talks With Women”: Issues of dress and gender in Demorest’s Monthly Magazine 2000 3294 This paper explores how popular women’s magazines promoted change in women’s roles and reform in dress during the nineteenth century. Selected writings about women and dress for Demorest’s Monthly Magazine by its editor, Jane Cunningham Croly, are ex...
Majoring in Fashion: A Theoretical Framework for Understanding the Decision-Making Process 2010 8455 Choosing a college major can be a complex decision and one that has the potential to determine an individual's professional future. The purpose of this study was to develop a theoretical framework for mapping the decision-making process. Grounded in ...
Majoring in fashion: a theoretical framework for understanding the decision-making process 2010 869 Choosing a college major can be a complex decision and one that has the potential to determine an individual's professional future. The purpose of this study was to develop a theoretical framework for mapping the decision-making process. Grounded in ...
Making a major decision: an exploration of why students enroll in fashion programmes 2009 1047 Much like deciding where to go to college, for many students, deciding what to major in is a complex, multi-dimensional process wherein several different variables may influence the final decision. Understanding the motivations behind the decision to...
Making a Major Decision: An Exploration of Why Students Enroll in Fashion Programmes 2009 3386 Much like deciding where to go to college, for many students, deciding what to major in is a complex, multi-dimensional process wherein several different variables may influence the final decision. Understanding the motivations behind the decision to...
Making sense of the market: An exploration of apparel consumption practices of the Russian consumer 2007 4303 Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine and interpret post-socialist consumer experiences in relation to clothing consumption practices when consumers shop, acquire, and wear clothing and other fashion-related products. Design/methodology/a...
Making sense of the market: An exploration of apparel consumption practices of the Russian consumer 2007 328 Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine and interpret post-socialist consumer experiences in relation to clothing consumption practices when consumers shop, acquire, and wear clothing and other fashion-related products. Design/methodology/ap...
The MAYA principle as applied to apparel products: The effects of typicality and novelty on aesthetic preference 2019 551 Purpose There are numerous design principles that can guide strategic decisions and determine good product design. One principle that has received considerable attention in the literature is the MAYA principle, which suggests that consumers seek a ba...
Modeling Entrepreneurial Career Intentions among Undergraduates: An Examination of the Moderating Role of Entrepreneurial Knowledge and Skills 2013 1206 The purpose of this study was to empirically develop a comprehensive model of undergraduate students' entrepreneurial career intention that combines both cognitive and behavioral decision-making processes. Data were collected via a questionnaire comp...
More than just a ‘little hobby’: Women and textile art in Ireland 2005 5706 In this article, interviews with 25 contemporary Irish women textile artists form the basis of an exploration of women’s experiences with creative expression. An interpretive framework that highlights key socio-cultural and gender issues is used to c...
On the Growth of European Apparel Firms 2014 830 According to the European Skills Council, the apparel industry is experiencing a renaissance in countries throughout the European Union, and this renaissance is marked by innovation and technical development among small firms. In this paper, the AEGI...
Response to activewear apparel advertisements by US Baby Boomers: An exploration of cognitive versus chronological age factors 2008 4694 Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the importance of cognitive- versus chronological-age factors in activewear apparel advertisements targeting female baby boomers in the USA. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 50 female particip...
A Tale of Two Industries: An Interpretive Analysis of Media Reports on Textiles and Apparel in North Carolina 2008 1890 This qualitative study explores recent textile and apparel industry dynamics from the point of view of the news media to understand how such dynamics are presented to the general public. North Carolina, having been home to many jobs in these industri...
A tale of two industries: An interpretive analysis of media reports on textiles and apparel in North Carolina 2008 144 This qualitative study explores recent textile and apparel industry dynamics from the point of view of the news media to understand how such dynamics are presented to the general public. North Carolina, having been home to many jobs in these industri...
Teaching virtual apparel technology through industry collaboration: an assessment of pedagogical process and outcomes 2020 522 Graduates of apparel programmes are entering a workforce that requires the use of emerging technologies that are relevant to performing job requirements. Among apparel companies, virtual technologies are increasingly being used in the product develop...
US textile sector job loss: An exploration of implications for individuals, community, and industry 2010 3316 Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the experiences of displaced female textile sector workers. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative approach to data collection and interpretation forms the methodological basis of the study. In-...
Women and apparel entrepreneurship: An Exploration of Small Business Challenges and Strategies in Three Countries 2015 486 Purpose – The purpose of this study was to explore strategies used by successful female entrepreneurs to manage the challenges of running a small apparel business. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative research design was used. Primary and seco...
Women and higher education in Russia: Preparation for careers in the apparel industry 2008 177 This qualitative study explored the motivations, goals, and experiences of 25 female apparel majors enrolled at two large Russian universities. Data were collected via in-depth interviews and a demographic questionnaire, and interpreted thematically ...