I trust you if you say what I believe: Audiences’ perception of sustainability narrative framings

Abstract

Building on strategic framing and sustainability communication research, this article finds that trust in firms’ sustainability commitment varies with differing evaluative mental models across stakeholders, such as investors, customers and the general public. Stakeholders’ perceived trust depends on their level of expertise and firms’ ways of framing their sustainability narratives. Using publicly available data of firms’ sustainability communications and experimental survey data of 300 participants, this study shows that firms benefit from deploying sustainability narrative framing strategies congruent with audiences’ mental models. Experts, such as sustainability or industry experts, appreciate sustainability narratives framed in concrete ‘how’ terms, while non-experts, i.e., laypeople, are more receptive to abstract ‘why’ terms. The study offers insights into and a framework based on the fieldwork on how managers may use framing tactics to improve the odds of achieving the desired perception of their sustainability narratives towards different stakeholders.