Sustainable Practices and Authentic Branding: Their Impact on Consumer Behaviour and Customer Satisfaction
Main Article Content
Abstract
Most shoppers say they care about the planet, yet far fewer let that concern decide what ends up in the basket. This paper argues that the missing link is often authenticity. Sustainable practices on their own do not reliably move people; they move people when the brand behind them is seen as genuine, consistent and honest about its limits. Drawing on literature from marketing, consumer psychology and corporate social responsibility (CSR), the paper brings together three streams of work that are usually studied apart: sustainability-oriented business practices, brand authenticity, and the pathway from consumer attitudes to satisfaction and loyalty.
We develop a conceptual framework in which perceived sustainable practices shape consumer behaviour and satisfaction through brand trust and perceived authenticity, while scepticism and greenwashing suspicion weaken the effect. Seven research propositions are set out, together with a proposed survey-based design for testing them using structural equation modelling. The discussion looks at the well-known gap between what consumers say and what they do, and uses short cases (Patagonia, Unilever and the Volkswagen emissions scandal) to show how authenticity can turn green claims into loyalty, or into backlash. The paper closes with practical advice for managers and an agenda for future research, with particular attention to emerging markets such as India.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
References
Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), 179–211.
Anderson, E. W., Fornell, C., & Lehmann, D. R. (1994). Customer satisfaction, market share, and profitability: Findings from Sweden. Journal of Marketing, 58(3), 53–66.
Becker-Olsen, K. L., Cudmore, B. A., & Hill, R. P. (2006). The impact of perceived corporate social responsibility on consumer behavior. Journal of Business Research, 59(1), 46–53.
Beverland, M. B. (2005). Crafting brand authenticity: The case of luxury wines. Journal of Management Studies, 42(5), 1003–1029.
Carrington, M. J., Neville, B. A., & Whitwell, G. J. (2010). Why ethical consumers don't walk their talk: Towards a framework for understanding the gap between the ethical purchase intentions and actual buying behaviour of ethically minded consumers. Journal of Business Ethics, 97(1), 139–158.
Carroll, A. B. (1991). The pyramid of corporate social responsibility: Toward the moral management of organizational stakeholders. Business Horizons, 34(4), 39–48.
Chen, Y.-S. (2010). The drivers of green brand equity: Green brand image, green satisfaction, and green trust. Journal of Business Ethics, 93(2), 307–319.
Delmas, M. A., & Burbano, V. C. (2011). The drivers of greenwashing. California Management Review, 54(1), 64–87.
Du, S., Bhattacharya, C. B., & Sen, S. (2010). Maximizing business returns to corporate social responsibility (CSR): The role of CSR communication. International Journal of Management Reviews, 12(1), 8–19.
Elkington, J. (1997). Cannibals with forks: The triple bottom line of 21st century business. Capstone.
Fornell, C., Johnson, M. D., Anderson, E. W., Cha, J., & Bryant, B. E. (1996). The American Customer Satisfaction Index: Nature, purpose, and findings. Journal of Marketing, 60(4), 7–18.
Fritz, K., Schoenmueller, V., & Bruhn, M. (2017). Authenticity in branding: Exploring antecedents and consequences of brand authenticity. European Journal of Marketing, 51(2), 324–348.
Gilmore, J. H., & Pine, B. J. (2007). Authenticity: What consumers really want. Harvard Business School Press.
Kotler, P. (2011). Reinventing marketing to manage the environmental imperative. Journal of Marketing, 75(4), 132–135.
Leonidou, C. N., & Skarmeas, D. (2017). Gray shades of green: Causes and consequences of green skepticism. Journal of Business Ethics, 144(2), 401–415.
Luo, X., & Bhattacharya, C. B. (2006). Corporate social responsibility, customer satisfaction, and market value. Journal of Marketing, 70(4), 1–18.
Morgan, R. M., & Hunt, S. D. (1994). The commitment–trust theory of relationship marketing. Journal of Marketing, 58(3), 20–38.
Morhart, F., Malär, L., Guèvremont, A., Girardin, F., & Grohmann, B. (2015). Brand authenticity: An integrative framework and measurement scale. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 25(2), 200–218.
Napoli, J., Dickinson, S. J., Beverland, M. B., & Farrelly, F. (2014). Measuring consumer-based brand authenticity. Journal of Business Research, 67(6), 1090–1098.
Oliver, R. L. (1980). A cognitive model of the antecedents and consequences of satisfaction decisions. Journal of Marketing Research, 17(4), 460–469.
Peattie, K., & Crane, A. (2005). Green marketing: Legend, myth, farce or prophesy? Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 8(4), 357–370.
Schallehn, M., Burmann, C., & Riley, N. (2014). Brand authenticity: Model development and empirical testing. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 23(3), 192–199.
Sen, S., & Bhattacharya, C. B. (2001). Does doing good always lead to doing better? Consumer reactions to corporate social responsibility. Journal of Marketing Research, 38(2), 225–243.
Szabo, S., & Webster, J. (2021). Perceived greenwashing: The effects of green marketing on environmental and product perceptions. Journal of Business Ethics, 171(4), 719–739.
White, K., Habib, R., & Hardisty, D. J. (2019). How to SHIFT consumer behaviors to be more sustainable: A literature review and guiding framework. Journal of Marketing, 83(3), 22–49.
Zeithaml, V. A., Berry, L. L., & Parasuraman, A. (1996). The behavioral consequences of service quality. Journal of Marketing, 60(2), 31–46