ESGs and Customer Choice: Some Empirical Evidence

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to determine whether a company’s performance on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) indicators influences customer choice, and if so, which ones are the most important, as well as whether the COVID-19 pandemic had an effect on changing this hierarchy. Additionally, it intends to investigate the influence of regional and demographic factors on its formation. To achieve this goal, primary data were gathered in Greece via a questionnaire survey. According to the findings, a company’s performance on ESGs influences consumer choice, with an emphasis on environmental and social indicators. It was also demonstrated that a company’s social indicator performance is relevant to both urban and suburban customers. Customers in urban areas place a higher value on a company’s performance in governance indicators than those in suburban areas, who place a higher value on a company’s performance in environmental indicators. Finally, no significant COVID-19 effect was evidenced on the findings, although the emphasis on “social indicators” was further reinforced, probably due to the increase in social awareness of citizens during the pandemic.

Understanding Consumer Attitudes Towards Sustainable Business Models—A Qualitative Study with Finnish Consumers

“…[31,32]). In the context of sustainability, companies' performance on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues affects consumer choice, with an emphasis on environmental and social indicators [33]. According to Laukkanen and Tura, customer-perceived value assists the design of dynamic sustainable value propositions to respond to market changes and builds an understanding of the expected sustainability impacts [24].…”

Socio-Economic Factors Affecting ESG Reporting Call for Globally Agreed Standards

“…It can be asserted that because of the volatile economic environment and the increasing interest of investors, consumers [25] employees, and governments due to socio-economic and environment issues, as well as the increasing legal action taken against a corporate entity or its shareholders, managers wish to focus on reputation-building, their fiduciary responsibilities, and their moral responsibilities [2]. Some studies [26,27] have shown a favorable assessment when entities disclose their ESG index.…”

A Stochastically Optimized Two-Echelon Supply Chain Model: An Entropy Approach for Operational Risk Assessment

“…Green supply chain management (GSCM) integrates environmental thinking into supply chain management, creating a sustainable supply chain [ 5 ]. As noted in the relevant literature (see, e.g., [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ]) companies are under immense pressure to adopt GSCM practices that are driven towards the environment by a combination of external factors (government rules and legislation; environmental concerns and regulation; social and environmental responsibility; customer awareness, pressure, and support; supplier pressure and willingness; global climate pressure) and internal factors (green image; global marketing; competitiveness; economic beliefs or cost reduction benefits; investor and shareholder pressure; employee motivation; health and safety issues; waste management issues) towards meeting SDGs, as they directly affect customer choice [ 15 ]. Furthermore, many studies are currently focusing on discussing the implementation of GSCM in different sectors of the economy and/or specific countries (see, e.g., [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 ]).…”