Situational variables and sustainability in multi-attribute decision-making

Abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The purpose of this study is to examine whether consumers demonstrate a multi-dimensional understanding of sustainability in their decision-making and addresses the situational influence of confidence and compromise on sustainable product choices. Design/methodology/approach -Using three choice-based conjoint experiments the authors examined the importance of sustainability, compromise and confidence to consumers across two contexts. Two-step cluster analyses were used to segment consumers based on the importance scores. Findings -Data indicates that the environmental dimension of sustainability is the most influential followed by economic and social. The responses suggest three distinct segments identified as self-focused, trend motivated and reality driven that demonstrate significantly different characteristics in their approach to sustainable products. Research limitations/implications -Current research tends to focus on the environmental dimension, while paying little heed to the economic and social dimensions. This research indicates that consumers consider all three dimensions when making sustainable product choices and highlights that differences may emerge with respect to product utility. Practical implications -Firms must be aware that consumers differ in the importance they place on sustainability. The reality-driven segment is the most attractive segment, as they are highly engaged and are willing to invest time in understanding the complexities of sustainability. The trend-motivated segments are more fickle with superficial knowledge, and the self-focused segments are self-serving in their orientations and use price as a key decision variable. Originality/value -The paper addresses an important oversight in the sustainability literature. It provides both a theoretical contribution to advance marketing research and a practical contribution that may be of interest to those trying to market sustainable products.

Eco-Friendly Brands to Drive Sustainable Development: Replication and Extension of the Brand Experience Scale in a Cross-National Context

“…Providing more eco-friendly products that consumers experience as being eco-friendly on the brand level would help to reinforce the sustainable consumption behavior of consumers on the micro level and promote sustainable development on the macro level. Consumers trust that companies who have CSR activities are doing their best to develop the sustainability of their product design, manufacturing, and production processes to create more eco-friendly products, which the consumers also experience as truly eco-friendly, and it is crucial for companies to realize this is one of the consumer requirements [79,149]. Electronics companies could use the measures to monitor, for example, how their e-waste management activities are reflected in consumers' brand experiences.…”

“…The brand experiences that consumers have can be both communal (associated with society and the environment) and individualistic (having personal value) [76,77], and both kinds of experiences are important for creating brand value [78]. In the case of eco-friendliness, consumers are becoming more influential and informed, and this needs to be taken into account in corporations [79].…”

Blinds up or down?

“…First, customers will have greater certainty about the likely success of a purchase experience when they purchase from a firm which they perceive to have stronger future orientation, because they feel that the business takes the long-term, sustainable view and is more likely to exist in the future as a result of it (Erdem and Swait, 1998;Simpson and Radford, 2014). Indeed, a future oriented business can be characterized as a sustainable business that does not view profit as its sole motive (Simpson and Radford, 2014). Instead, it shifts from a focus on immediate or short-term growth (the aim to grow big fast) towards a longer-term view and continuous development (the aim to get better).…”

“…By implication, future orientation involves persistence and patience and the commitment of dedicated resource 32 investments over a longer time horizon, thereby sustaining the bonded relationships with consumers in the long run (Bell and Eisingerich, 2007). In this regard, consumers may be aware of the salience of future, looking upon such open and lasting businesses as "role models" by mutually considering the subsequent consequences of their consumption on society (Simpson and Radford, 2014;Welsch and Kühling, 2009). In line with Romani and Grappi (2014), people's consumption related intention and behavior could be the direct outcome of their learning experiences from the observation of a business, causing a symbolic coding of future orientation to be reproduced in consumer's memory and then motivating consumers to imitate decisions toward sustainability and responsibility.…”

Sustainability and Triple Bottom-Line Performance in the Horticulture Supply Chains in Nairobi, Kenya

“…Situational variables and sustainability in multi-attribute decision making established that the environmental dimension of sustainability is the most influential followed by economic and social [10]. A study on crippled bottom line-measuring and managing sustainability concluded that the relative indicators with focus on people utility compared to planet and people harm seem to be relevant for measuring the level of sustainability [11].…”