Abstract
Purpose—This study aims to demonstrate the antecedent factors of consumers’ cosmetics purchasing behaviour in the emerging market of Thailand from the perspective of sustainability. Specifically, the study aims to quantitatively analyse the impact of three hypothesised antecedents of consumer behaviour: product quality, communicating sustainability, and ethical business behaviour. Methodology—A quantitative methodology is applied in the study, which collects survey data from Thailand. This study focuses on two cosmetic brands in Thailand, a domestic brand and an international brand. The total 800-sample dataset was analysed using Structural Equation Modelling to validate a conceptual model with measurements of three antecedent factors: quality, ethical behaviour, and communication sustainability. Findings—It is found that ‘ethical behaviour of the producers had a non-significant impact for all samples and the ‘domestic brand’, whereas communicating sustainability had a significant impact in all sample cases. The proposed measurement scales present a practical and pioneering tool for assessing consumer responses and behaviour towards cosmetic brands. The set of scales will also help cosmetics marketers to appraise their strategic planning and monitor their progress toward creating and identifying consumer loyalty to cosmetics brands via producers’ ethical behaviour and CSR messaging. Originality—The global market and inter-stakeholder communications have greatly changed the way people perceive, behave towards, and react to business suppliers. The understanding of consumer brand loyalty in the cosmetics industry and the business strategies focused on the impact of communicating sustainability with ethical behaviour remain limited, especially in the context of the emerging market. This research contributes to filling this gap with empirical analyses.
Highlights
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutralIn an era marked by a concern for sustainable development, a closer investigation into the relationship between businesses that aim to sustain their operations through ethical behaviour and the consumers’ responses to this behaviour is crucial in view of the desire to propose more actionable implications for both businesses and consumers.Many authors have noted that decision-making today is more complex than at any time in the past, especially given the vast array of different products with which consumers are confronted [1,2]
By investigating the antecedent factors that may influence consumers’ loyalty to a particular cosmetic product and developing an analytical framework characterised by practical measurement scales, we aim to contribute to future research on product choice behaviour in emerging economies by providing models and scales for analysing consumer behaviour in these contexts
This study focused on Thai consumers belonging to younger generations with a higher educational background as a leading consumer segment in commodity consumption, aiming to examine and understand the latest market trends in cosmetics consumption, which is a key theme of the study
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutralIn an era marked by a concern for sustainable development, a closer investigation into the relationship between businesses that aim to sustain their operations through ethical behaviour and the consumers’ responses to this behaviour is crucial in view of the desire to propose more actionable implications for both businesses and consumers.Many authors have noted that decision-making today is more complex than at any time in the past, especially given the vast array of different products with which consumers are confronted [1,2]. The notion of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become one of the most popular topics of discussion among academics and marketers alike, in relation to its impact on consumer decision-making [3,4]. It is important from a CSR perspective to disclose manufacturing processes and appropriate ingredient lists as evidence that a company is engaged in ethical business practices, as well as to ensure that consumers can use products safely and without risk to their health. While various academic discussions have outlined the clear implications here, these discussions have largely revolved around the international brands and consumer with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
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