Consumer responses to sustainable product branding strategies: a literature review and future research agenda
ISSN: 1746-5265
Article publication date: 28 August 2023
Issue publication date: 5 September 2023
Abstract
Purpose
This literature review aims to synthesise the research on various sustainable product branding activities and their impact on consumer responses to sustainable products and brands.
Design/methodology/approach
This literature review is semi-systematic and can be classified as a domain-based review. The search strategy was systematic and well-defined.
Findings
The authors identified four themes: building brand equity, brand communication, product development and third-party labels and ratings, within the sustainable product branding activities that influence consumers' responses to sustainable products and brands. The study's findings revealed diverse, and not always favourable, types of behavioural and attitudinal responses from consumers. As for the positive consumer responses, the authors found positive attitudes towards brands, willingness to pay a premium price and positive word-of-mouth intentions. As for the negative consumer responses, the authors found perceived greenwashing, negative brand evaluations and resistance to sustainable products with unfamiliar third-party labels. Several future research propositions and implications for research and practice are discussed.
Originality/value
Despite the large number of studies that look at sustainable branding strategies, there is a gap in terms of synthesising the knowledge on consumer responses to sustainable product branding strategies. This paper intends to fill this gap.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Rezvani Acknowledges the funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions, grant agreement No. 843441.
Citation
Fatemi, H., Leijerholt, U., Rezvani, Z. and Schnittka, O. (2023), "Consumer responses to sustainable product branding strategies: a literature review and future research agenda", Baltic Journal of Management, Vol. 18 No. 4, pp. 525-542. https://doi.org/10.1108/BJM-11-2022-0412
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited