Assessing Chinese fashion organizations’ change readiness for the circular economy (FashionReady4CE): Development and validation of FashionReady4CE scales

The Chinese fashion industry's environmental impact has led to calls for a transition from a linear economic model to a circular economic (CE) model. However, it remains uncertain if Chinese fashion organizations are ready to make this change. This study addresses this gap by exploring “change readiness” as an understudied construct in the CE literature to aid researchers, practitioners, and policymakers in assessing Chinese fashion organizations' readiness to transition to the CE (i.e., FashionReady4CE). Using organizational readiness for change as the theoretical framework and item response theory as the methodology, the FashionReady4CE scales were formulated. Through a comprehensive integration of qualitative and quantitative methods, a robust set of FashionReady4CE scales was developed, encompassing 25 scale items that originated from four key constructs: change commitment and change efficacy, which jointly form change readiness, along with change-related effort and implementation effectiveness pertinent to the CE. The validated set of FashionReady4CE scales holds important implications for academic researchers, fashion industry practitioners, and policymakers, empowering them to successfully shift toward the CE.