The Sustainability Marketing Framework: A Tool for Teaching and Learning about Sustainability Marketing

Abstract

Relevant Quote The principles of sustainable development say that we should live within environmental limits, and that we should enjoy and aspire to a healthy, just, and fair society. That's not an either/or; it's a both/and. —Willy Day, Sustainable Development Commission, Chair, United Kingdom Chapter research problem How to develop a teaching and learning framework for introducing sustainability marketing into a marketing course or module. Chapter overview The chapter's focus is on sustainability marketing. The chapter's first half discusses the importance of sustainability in marketing. In so doing, it answers the question why sustainability marketing is an important issue for contemporary marketing, it defines what sustainability marketing is, and it untangles three words often used in discussions about sustainability marketing: “sustainable,” “sustainability,” and “sustainable development.” The chapter's second half focuses squarely on marketing pedagogy by presenting a framework for teaching and learning about sustainability marketing suitable for use in the marketing classroom. This Sustainability Marketing Framework has three unique elements: (1) It explicitly incorporates the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a gateway for marketing educators to teach about – and for students, in turn, to learn about – sustainability marketing; (2) it acknowledges that sustainability marketing shares some common features with social marketing, since the overriding goal of both is to improve the well-being of individuals and society; and (3) it integrates macro- and micro-level marketing perspectives to provide a comprehensive view of sustainability marketing. Because sustainability marketing is a relatively new topic, the chapter's second half provides examples of how marketing educators can apply the Sustainability Marketing Framework in case analyses, in active learning exercises, and in developing students’ critical thinking skills.