Abstract
This study aims to address how (through which mechanisms) and when (under which conditions) retailers’ sustainability efforts translate into positive consumer responses. Hypotheses are developed and tested through a scenario-based experiment among 672 consumers. Retailers’ assortment sustainability and distribution sustainability are manipulated. Retailers’ sustainability efforts lead to positive consumer responses (e.g., improved store evaluations) via two underlying mechanisms: consumers’ identification with the store (personal route) and store legitimacy (social route). The effects of sustainability efforts are strengthened if consumers have personal norms favoring shopping at environmentally friendly stores. Remarkably, when controlling for moderation by personal norms, social norms weaken the effects. The findings show that traditional marketing mix elements provide opportunities for retailers to improve their organizations’ bottom line and positively affect consumer (and societal) well-being. This study helps retailers decide whether or not to invest in and communicate about sustainability. Past research has shown the clear potential for positive consumer responses to firms’ sustainability efforts, but little is known about the underlying mechanisms and the conditions under which such responses take place. This study advances theory by examining personal and social factors as mediators and moderators of the retailers’ sustainability efforts–consumer responses relationship.
Highlights
The success of multinational home products company IKEA in selling sustainable products ($1.13 billion in 2014, an increase of 58% over 2013) clearly signifies positive consumer responses to a retailer’s sustainability efforts (EcoWatch.com 2015)
Building on two influential behavioral theories from psychology that have a prominent role in the pro-environmental behavior literature, we propose that the effects of sustainability efforts on consumer responses depend on personal and social norms
The full model (v2(609) = 1915.57, p \ .01) fit the data significantly better than either a store legitimacy-only (Dv2(14) = 600.86, p \ .01) or identification-only (Dv2(15) = 376.94, p \ .01) model, which indicated that the two routes are complementary. These findings showed that the identification-only model performed better than the legitimacy-only model, which underlined the finding that the route via identification is the stronger route from sustainability efforts to consumer responses
Summary
The success of multinational home products company IKEA in selling sustainable products ($1.13 billion in 2014, an increase of 58% over 2013) clearly signifies positive consumer responses to a retailer’s sustainability efforts (EcoWatch.com 2015). Understanding how (through which mediating mechanisms) these efforts translate into positive consumer responses would provide further assistance. This study aims to address how (through which mechanisms) and when (under which conditions) retailers’ sustainability efforts translate into positive consumer responses. We thereby focus on personal versus social factors, inspired by previous studies in the field of marketing and consumer behavior, in particular pro-environmental behavior
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