IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i14p10996-d1193405.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Environmental Product Innovation and Perceived Brand Value: The Mediating Role of Ethical-Related Aspects

Author

Listed:
  • Donato Morea

    (Department of Mechanical, Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Cagliari, Via Marengo, 2, 09123 Cagliari, Italy)

  • Marcelo Gattermann Perin

    (Marketing Department, São Paulo Business School (EAESP/FGV), Sao Paulo 01313-902, Brazil)

  • Camila Kolling

    (Industrial Engineering Graduate Program, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre 90040-060, Brazil)

  • Janine Fleith de Medeiros

    (Department of Business Management, University of Passo Fundo, Passo Fundo 99052-900, Brazil)

  • Jose Luis Duarte Ribeiro

    (Industrial Engineering Graduate Program, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre 90040-060, Brazil)

Abstract

Studies developed in the last two decades indicate that environmental product innovations can potentially generate competitive advantages. However, the ethical dimension, now increasingly involved in evaluations for consumer decision-making, has received less attention in academic research. Considering the above, our study investigates the mediating role of ethical aspects in the relationship between environmental product innovation and perceived brand value. To this end, we carried out a quantitative study with 336 university students who are end users of Apple and Microsoft products and services. In addition to investigating the main effect of environmental product innovations on perceived brand equity, we explore the possible mediating effects of ethical behaviors: (i) open-mindedness and (ii) concerns with privacy practices. Our results indicate that environmental product innovations need to be supported by the ethical aspects of companies to have a positive effect on perceived brand equity. Crucially, customers perceive value in environmental product innovation when they can confirm that organizations exhibit ethical correctness, particularly in the sector under study. We understand that our research provides advancement in the field of sustainable innovation. The study confirms that broader approaches, mainly centered on corporate commitments beyond environmental issues, are critical for environmental product innovations to generate perceived brand value.

Suggested Citation

  • Donato Morea & Marcelo Gattermann Perin & Camila Kolling & Janine Fleith de Medeiros & Jose Luis Duarte Ribeiro, 2023. "Environmental Product Innovation and Perceived Brand Value: The Mediating Role of Ethical-Related Aspects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-17, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:14:p:10996-:d:1193405
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/14/10996/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/14/10996/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tarcia Camily Cavalcante Quezado & Nuno Fortes & William Quezado Figueiredo Cavalcante, 2022. "The Influence of Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Ethics on Brand Fidelity: The Importance of Brand Love and Brand Attitude," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-20, March.
    2. Yi Gao & Zhiguo Li & Kashif Khan, 2019. "A Study on the Relationship between Paradox Cognition, Green Industrial Production, and Corporate Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-18, November.
    3. Lihong Chen & Kexin Qie & Hafeezullah Memon & Hanur Meku Yesuf, 2021. "The Empirical Analysis of Green Innovation for Fashion Brands, Perceived Value and Green Purchase Intention—Mediating and Moderating Effects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-17, April.
    4. Ivana First & Deepali Sinha Khetriwal, 2010. "Exploring the relationship between environmental orientation and brand value: is there fire or only smoke?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(2), pages 90-103, February.
    5. Yu-Shan Chen & Ching-Hsun Chang, 2013. "Greenwash and Green Trust: The Mediation Effects of Green Consumer Confusion and Green Perceived Risk," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 114(3), pages 489-500, May.
    6. Gema Albort-Morant & Jörg Henseler & Antonio Leal-Millán & Gabriel Cepeda-Carrión, 2017. "Mapping the Field: A Bibliometric Analysis of Green Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-15, June.
    7. Rosa Dangelico & Devashish Pujari, 2010. "Mainstreaming Green Product Innovation: Why and How Companies Integrate Environmental Sustainability," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 95(3), pages 471-486, September.
    8. Abraham Carmeli & Ashler Tishler, 2004. "The relationships between intangible organizational elements and organizational performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(13), pages 1257-1278, December.
    9. Sophie Hemker & Carolina Herrando & Efthymios Constantinides, 2021. "The Transformation of Data Marketing: How an Ethical Lens on Consumer Data Collection Shapes the Future of Marketing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-13, October.
    10. Tamara Dinev & Paul Hart, 2006. "An Extended Privacy Calculus Model for E-Commerce Transactions," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 17(1), pages 61-80, March.
    11. So Young Song & Youn-Kyung Kim, 2018. "Theory of Virtue Ethics: Do Consumers’ Good Traits Predict Their Socially Responsible Consumption?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(4), pages 1159-1175, November.
    12. David Newkirk, 2018. "“Apple: Good Business, Poor Citizen”: A Practitioner’s Response," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(1), pages 13-16, August.
    13. Andreas Hesse & Karolin Bündgen & Saskia Claren & Sarah Frank, 2022. "Practices of brand extensions and how consumers respond to FMCG giants’ greening attempts," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 29(6), pages 520-537, November.
    14. Cegarra-Navarro, Juan Gabriel & Papa, Armando & Garcia-Perez, Alexeis & Fiano, Fabio, 2019. "An open-minded strategy towards eco-innovation: A key to sustainable growth in a global enterprise," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    15. Rosa Maria Dangelico & Fabio Nonino & Alessandro Pompei, 2021. "Which are the determinants of green purchase behaviour? A study of Italian consumers," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(5), pages 2600-2620, July.
    16. Gupta, Suraksha & Czinkota, Michael & Melewar, T.C., 2013. "Embedding knowledge and value of a brand into sustainability for differentiation," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 287-296.
    17. Hossain, Md Afnan & Akter, Shahriar & Yanamandram, Venkata, 2020. "Revisiting customer analytics capability for data-driven retailing," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    18. 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.
    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. Muhammed Sajid & Myriam Ertz, 2024. "Blueprints to Benefits: Towards an Index to Measure the Impact of Sustainable Product Development on the Firm’s Bottom Line," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-25, January.

    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. Qiong Yao & Suzhen Zeng & Shibin Sheng & Shiyuan Gong, 2021. "Green innovation and brand equity: moderating effects of industrial institutions," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 38(2), pages 573-602, June.
    2. Saddam A. Hazaea & Ebrahim Mohammed Al-Matari & Khaled Zedan & Saleh F. A. Khatib & Jinyu Zhu & Hamzeh Al Amosh, 2022. "Green Purchasing: Past, Present and Future," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-28, April.
    3. Xinwei Li & Wenjuan Zeng & Mao Xu, 2022. "The Moderating Role of IT Capability on Green Innovation and Ambidexterity: Towards a Corporate Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-20, December.
    4. Palmer, Mark & Truong, Yann, 2017. "The Impact of Technological Green New Product Introductions on Firm Profitability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 86-93.
    5. Shubo Liu & Min-Ren Yan, 2018. "Corporate Sustainability and Green Innovation in an Emerging Economy—An Empirical Study in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-29, November.
    6. Raghuveer Negi & Amit Kumar Gupta & Vidhu Gaur, 2023. "Effect of green marketing orientation dimensions on green innovation and organizational performance: A mediation‐moderation analysis," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(8), pages 5435-5458, December.
    7. Prasad Siba Borah & Courage Simon Kofi Dogbe & Nyankomo Marwa, 2024. "Generation Z's green purchase behavior: Do green consumer knowledge, consumer social responsibility, green advertising, and green consumer trust matter for sustainable development?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5), pages 4530-4546, July.
    8. Jakeline Serrano‐García & Andrea Bikfalvi & Josep Llach & Juan José Arbeláez‐Toro, 2022. "Capabilities and organisational dimensions conducive to green product innovation: Evidence from Croatian and Spanish manufacturing firms," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(7), pages 2767-2785, November.
    9. Tser-Yieth Chen & Chi-Jui Huang, 2019. "Dual Pathways of Value Endorsement in Green Marketing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-23, April.
    10. Md. Mahiuddin Sabbir & Khan Md Raziuddin Taufique, 2022. "Sustainable employee green behavior in the workplace: Integrating cognitive and non‐cognitive factors in corporate environmental policy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 110-128, January.
    11. Amit Kumar Bhardwaj & Arunesh Garg & Shri Ram & Yuvraj Gajpal & Chengsi Zheng, 2020. "Research Trends in Green Product for Environment: A Bibliometric Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(22), pages 1-21, November.
    12. Wei Jiang & Kui Wang & Kevin Zheng Zhou, 2023. "How Political Ties and Green Innovation Co-evolve in China: Alignment with Institutional Development and Environmental Pollution," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 186(4), pages 739-760, September.
    13. Davide C. Orazi & Eugene Y. Chan, 2020. "“They Did Not Walk the Green Talk!:” How Information Specificity Influences Consumer Evaluations of Disconfirmed Environmental Claims," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 163(1), pages 107-123, April.
    14. Rosa Maria Dangelico, 2017. "What Drives Green Product Development and How do Different Antecedents Affect Market Performance? A Survey of Italian Companies with Eco‐Labels," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(8), pages 1144-1161, December.
    15. Joseph A. Cazier & Benjamin B. M. Shao & Robert D. St. Louis, 2007. "Sharing information and building trust through value congruence," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 9(5), pages 515-529, November.
    16. Potoglou, Dimitris & Palacios, Juan & Feijoo, Claudio & Gómez Barroso, Jose-Luis, 2015. "The supply of personal information: A study on the determinants of information provision in e-commerce scenarios," 26th European Regional ITS Conference, Madrid 2015 127174, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    17. Ioanna Boulouta & Danae Manika, 2021. "Cause-Related Marketing and Ethnocentrism: The Moderating Effects of Geographic Scope and Perceived Economic Threat," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-19, December.
    18. Goethner, Maximilian & Hornuf, Lars & Regner, Tobias, 2021. "Protecting investors in equity crowdfunding: An empirical analysis of the small investor protection act," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    19. Corey Angst, 2009. "Protect My Privacy or Support the Common-Good? Ethical Questions About Electronic Health Information Exchanges," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 90(2), pages 169-178, November.
    20. Timmons, Shane & Whelan, Ava & Kelly, Clare, 2023. "An experimental test of a greenwashing inoculation intervention: Effects on identification, trust and intentions," Papers WP760, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).

    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:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:14:p:10996-:d:1193405. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.