When brands behave badly: signaling and spillover effects of unethical behavior in the context of triple bottom line sustainability
Journal of Product & Brand Management
ISSN: 1061-0421
Article publication date: 2 February 2023
Issue publication date: 26 July 2023
Abstract
Purpose
The triple bottom line of sustainability performance is well known; however, little research links it to consumer brand perceptions and intentions. This is important because consumers believe that brands should develop sustainability strategies and conduct business in ways that support those strategies. Using the theoretical lenses of signaling theory and spillover effects, this study aims to examine the impact of negative messages about brands’ triple bottom line sustainability activities on consumer perceived brand ethicality, perceived product quality and purchase interest.
Design/methodology/approach
This research includes two lab experiments with the US participants.
Findings
When brands have sustainability failures, consumers feel the firm is less ethical, its products are lower in quality and purchase interest suffers – regardless how the failure relates to the triple bottom line (environmental, social or economic). These effects are moderated by brand familiarity and the message source. Brand familiarity seems to protect a firm’s ethicality image as does when the information comes from a corporate source, contrary to the prevalent literature.
Originality/value
Unlike most sustainability research, this study provides comparison effects across all three dimensions of the triple bottom line. In doing so, this study highlights nuances in how consumers connect brands’ sustainability-related activities with perceptions about ethics and brand expectations. This research also contextualizes the findings through brand familiarity and message source and contributes to the growing body of literature on sustainability branding.
Keywords
Citation
Nichols, B.S., Kirchoff, J.F., Confente, I. and Stolze, H. (2023), "When brands behave badly: signaling and spillover effects of unethical behavior in the context of triple bottom line sustainability", Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 32 No. 6, pp. 908-926. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-07-2021-3569
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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