Re‐evaluating green marketing strategy: a stakeholder perspective
Abstract
Purpose
The present study aims to examine the influence of stakeholders on green marketing strategy (GMS). Marketing literature recognizes that stakeholders play a significant role in influencing organizations and markets, but has not targeted a single integrated approach to examine the relationship between stakeholder management and GMS.
Design/methodology/approach
This research comprised several phases, including the development of a typology of GMS, an analysis of how managers prioritize stakeholders, a study of the influence of stakeholders on GMS, and an analysis of the influence of the organizational context on managers' perception of the stakeholders. The hypotheses were validated using multivariate correlational techniques.
Findings
The study identified the stakeholders associated with GMS and their impact on the strategy adopted by the firms, and established how this is moderated by the firm's own economic sector and organizational characteristics.
Research limitations/implications
Future studies might replicate and extend the research in other industries and countries to ascertain whether environmental concerns have different effects in other contexts.
Practical implications
The surveys on GMS and stakeholder perception undertaken in the present survey are a potential source of information for managers – because they can be used as a self‐diagnostic tool to determine if a firm's attitude to the environment is reactive or proactive.
Originality/value
Results show that the organizational “greening” process is not a linear, one‐dimensional progression, rather an uneven process in which several GMS profiles prioritize different stakeholders. The results also reveal that underlying perceptual, behavioral, and organizational factors influence GMS implementation.
Keywords
Citation
Rivera‐Camino, J. (2007), "Re‐evaluating green marketing strategy: a stakeholder perspective", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 41 No. 11/12, pp. 1328-1358. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090560710821206
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2007, Emerald Group Publishing Limited