IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v137y2021icp182-193.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does sustainability sell? The impact of sustainability claims on the success of national brands’ new product introductions

Author

Listed:
  • van Doorn, Jenny
  • Risselada, Hans
  • Verhoef, Peter C.

Abstract

In the hope of benefiting from the increasing focus on sustainability in Western markets, national brands are introducing new sustainable products. We investigate the success of new sustainable products with a unique dataset combining household panel data, consumer survey data, expert panel survey data, and advertising expenditure data. We show that sustainable new product introductions achieve lower sales than their conventional counterparts. Investing in corporate social responsibility activities compensates for this negative effect and is therefore a viable strategy to boost sales of new sustainable products. Importantly, making sustainable new products clearly innovative mitigates the negative effect of a sustainability claim on new product sales, whereas price promotions aggravate the negative effect. We furthermore caution that the negative effect of sustainability may not decrease as sustainability becomes more mainstream, even if our data covers a period before the currently increased interest in sustainability.

Suggested Citation

  • van Doorn, Jenny & Risselada, Hans & Verhoef, Peter C., 2021. "Does sustainability sell? The impact of sustainability claims on the success of national brands’ new product introductions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 182-193.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:137:y:2021:i:c:p:182-193
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.08.032
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296321005889
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.08.032?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alain de Janvry & Craig McIntosh & Elisabeth Sadoulet, 2015. "Fair Trade and Free Entry: Can a Disequilibrium Market Serve as a Development Tool?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 97(3), pages 567-573, July.
    2. Alexander Chernev, 2007. "Jack of All Trades or Master of One? Product Differentiation and Compensatory Reasoning in Consumer Choice," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 33(4), pages 430-444, January.
    3. Jenny van Doorn & Peter C. Verhoef & Hans Risselada, 2020. "Sustainability Claims and Perceived Product Quality: The Moderating Role of Brand CSR," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-8, May.
    4. Webster, Frederick E, Jr, 1975. "Determining the Characteristics of the Socially Conscious Consumer," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 2(3), pages 188-196, December.
    5. Ran Xu & Kenneth A. Frank & Spiro J. Maroulis & Joshua M. Rosenberg, 2019. "konfound: Command to quantify robustness of causal inferences," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 19(3), pages 523-550, September.
    6. Ngobo, Paul Valentin, 2011. "What Drives Household Choice of Organic Products in Grocery Stores?," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 90-100.
    7. Julian Hofmann & Michel Clement & Franziska Völckner & Thorsten Hennig-Thurau, 2007. "The price-perceived quality relationship: A meta-analytic review and assessment of its determinants," Post-Print hal-02990424, HAL.
    8. George E. Newman & Margarita Gorlin & Ravi Dhar, 2014. "When Going Green Backfires: How Firm Intentions Shape the Evaluation of Socially Beneficial Product Enhancements," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 41(3), pages 823-839.
    9. Vadakkepatt, Gautham G. & Winterich, Karen Page & Mittal, Vikas & Zinn, Walter & Beitelspacher, Lauren & Aloysius, John & Ginger, Jessica & Reilman, Julie, 2021. "Sustainable Retailing," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 62-80.
    10. Prins, R. & Verhoef, P.C., 2007. "Marketing Communication Drivers of Adoption Timing of a New E-Service among Existing Customers," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2007-018-MKT, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    11. Phipps, Marcus & Ozanne, Lucie K. & Luchs, Michael G. & Subrahmanyan, Saroja & Kapitan, Sommer & Catlin, Jesse R. & Gau, Roland & Naylor, Rebecca Walker & Rose, Randall L. & Simpson, Bonnie & Weaver, , 2013. "Understanding the inherent complexity of sustainable consumption: A social cognitive framework," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(8), pages 1227-1234.
    12. Constantine S. Katsikeas & Constantinos N. Leonidou & Athina Zeriti, 2016. "Eco-friendly product development strategy: antecedents, outcomes, and contingent effects," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 44(6), pages 660-684, November.
    13. Jacob Goldenberg & Donald R. Lehmann & David Mazursky, 2001. "The Idea Itself and the Circumstances of Its Emergence as Predictors of New Product Success," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 47(1), pages 69-84, January.
    14. Franziska Völckner & Julian Hofmann, 2007. "The price-perceived quality relationship: A meta-analytic review and assessment of its determinants," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 181-196, September.
    15. Van Doorn, Jenny & Verhoef, Peter C., 2015. "Drivers of and Barriers to Organic Purchase Behavior," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 91(3), pages 436-450.
    16. Vincent R. Nijs & Marnik G. Dekimpe & Jan-Benedict E.M. Steenkamps & Dominique M. Hanssens, 2001. "The Category-Demand Effects of Price Promotions," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(1), pages 1-22, September.
    17. Leeflang, Peter S.H. & Bijmolt, Tammo H.A. & van Doorn, Jenny & Hanssens, Dominique M. & van Heerde, Harald J. & Verhoef, Peter C. & Wieringa, Jaap E., 2009. "Creating lift versus building the base: Current trends in marketing dynamics," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 13-20.
    18. Steenkamp, Jan-Benedict E M & Gielens, Katrijn, 2003. "Consumer and Market Drivers of the Trial Probability of New Consumer Packaged Goods," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 30(3), pages 368-384, December.
    19. Hans Jørn Juhl & Morten H. J. Fenger & John Thøgersen, 2017. "Will the Consistent Organic Food Consumer Step Forward? An Empirical Analysis," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 44(3), pages 519-535.
    20. Becker-Olsen, Karen L. & Cudmore, B. Andrew & Hill, Ronald Paul, 2006. "The impact of perceived corporate social responsibility on consumer behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 46-53, January.
    21. Ailawadi, Kusum L. & Neslin, Scott A. & Luan, Y. Jackie & Taylor, Gail Ayala, 2014. "Does retailer CSR enhance behavioral loyalty? A case for benefit segmentation," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 156-167.
    22. Jonas Schmidt & Tammo H. A. Bijmolt, 2020. "Accurately measuring willingness to pay for consumer goods: a meta-analysis of the hypothetical bias," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 499-518, May.
    23. Verhoef, Peter C. & van Doorn, Jenny, 2016. "Segmenting Consumers According to Their Purchase of Products with Organic, Fair-Trade, and Health Labels," Journal of Marketing Behavior, now publishers, vol. 2(1), pages 19-37, October.
    24. van Doorn, Jenny & Verhoef, Peter C., 2011. "Willingness to pay for organic products: Differences between virtue and vice foods," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 167-180.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hafezi, Maryam & Zhao, Xuan & Zolfagharinia, Hossein, 2023. "Together we stand? Co-opetition for the development of green products," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 306(3), pages 1417-1438.
    2. Anchal Patil & Vipulesh Shardeo & Ashish Dwivedi & Md. Abdul Moktadir & Surajit Bag, 2024. "Examining the interactions among smart supply chains and carbon reduction strategies: To attain carbon neutrality," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 1227-1246, February.
    3. Christoph Bey & Dirk C. Moosmayer, 2023. "Making a Brand Loved Rather Than Sustainable? Cosmopolitanism and Brand Love as Competing Communication Claims," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-13, July.
    4. Camelia Grădinaru & Daniel-Rareș Obadă & Ioan-Alexandru Grădinaru & Dan-Cristian Dabija, 2022. "Enhancing Sustainable Cosmetics Brand Purchase: A Comprehensive Approach Based on the SOR Model and the Triple Bottom Line," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-22, October.
    5. Gleim, Mark R. & McCullough, Heath & Sreen, Naman & Pant, Logan G., 2023. "Is doing right all that matters in sustainability marketing? The role of fit in sustainable marketing strategies," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    6. Hongfan Zhang & Qurat Ul Ainn & Iram Bashir & Junaid Ul Haq & Mark A. Bonn, 2022. "Does Greenwashing Influence the Green Product Experience in Emerging Hospitality Markets Post-COVID-19?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-16, September.
    7. Guangying Xie & Shengyan Wu & Zhengjiang Song, 2022. "Focus on Innovation or Focus on Sales? The Influences of the Government of China’s Demand-Side Reform during COVID-19 and Their Sustainability Consequences in the Consumer Products Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-21, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Robert Mai & Stefan Hoffmann & Ingo Balderjahn, 2021. "When drivers become inhibitors of organic consumption: the need for a multistage view," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(6), pages 1151-1174, November.
    2. Jenny van Doorn & Peter C. Verhoef & Hans Risselada, 2020. "Sustainability Claims and Perceived Product Quality: The Moderating Role of Brand CSR," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-8, May.
    3. Youngtak M. Kim & Neil T. Bendle & John Hulland & Michael D. Pfarrer, 2024. "Corporate sustainability research in marketing: Mapping progress and broadening our perspective," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 52(5), pages 1495-1512, October.
    4. Anat Toder‐Alon & Eyal Rosenstreich & Tali Te'eni Harari, 2019. "Give or take? Consumers' ambivalent perspectives on the relationship between a firm's corporate social responsibility engagement and its responsible tax payments," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(4), pages 872-884, July.
    5. Abhishek Borah & Francesca Bonetti & Angelito Calma & José Martí-Parreño, 2023. "The Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science at 50: A historical analysis," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(1), pages 222-243, January.
    6. Jyrki Isojärvi & Jaakko Aspara & Reza Movarrei, 2022. "Revisiting the paradox of whether retail buyers behave more like consumers or industrial purchasers: the case of price discounts," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 499-521, September.
    7. Daraboina, Rohini & Cooper, Orrin & Amini, Mehdi, 2024. "Segmentation of organic food consumers: A revelation of purchase factors in organic food markets," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    8. Lembregts, Christophe & Cadario, Romain, 2024. "Consumer-Driven Climate Mitigation: Exploring Barriers and Solutions in Studying Higher Mitigation Potential Behaviors," OSF Preprints ywus6, Center for Open Science.
    9. Olson, Erik L., 2022. "Advocacy bias in the green marketing literature: Where seldom is heard a discouraging word," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 805-820.
    10. Maja Hosta & Vesna Zabkar, 2021. "Antecedents of Environmentally and Socially Responsible Sustainable Consumer Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 171(2), pages 273-293, June.
    11. Olson, Erik L., 2022. "‘Sustainable’ marketing mixes and the paradoxical consequences of good intentions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 389-398.
    12. Akrout Houcine & Kaswengi Joseph, 2019. "Choosing Organic and Healthy Food in Times of Economic Uncertainty: Evidence from Panel Data Analysis in France," Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization, De Gruyter, vol. 17(1), pages 1-13, May.
    13. Chung, Myungjin & Saini, Ritesh, 2022. "Consumer self-uncertainty increases price dependency," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 40-48.
    14. Choi, Sunhee & Duhan, Dale F. & Dass, Mayukh, 2023. "The influence of corporate social responsibility appeals (CSRAs) on product sales: Which appeal types perform better?," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 99(1), pages 115-135.
    15. Ryoo, Yuhosua & Kim, WooJin, 2023. "Price-ethicality association: When price discounts inhibit ethical purchasing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    16. Jessica Bosseaux & Philippe Aurier & Alain François-Heude, 2019. "The Effects of Organic Label on Marketing Performance (Prices, Sales, and Margins) [Les Effets du Label Bio sur la Performance Marketing (Prix, ventes et marges)]," Post-Print hal-03079843, HAL.
    17. Loebnitz, Natascha & Frank, Phillip & Otterbring, Tobias, 2022. "Stairway to organic heaven: The impact of social and temporal distance in print ads," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 1044-1057.
    18. Park, Taehee & Yoo, Dongho, 2023. "Consumer perceptions of price increase by CSR: Focusing on construal level and consumer attribution," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    19. Risselada, Hans & Verhoef, Peter C. & Bijmolt, Tammo H.A., 2010. "Staying Power of Churn Prediction Models," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 198-208.
    20. Richard Friberg & Mark Sanctuary, 2018. "Market stealing and market expansion: an examination of product introductions in the organic coffee market," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 20(2), pages 287-303, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:137:y:2021:i:c:p:182-193. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.