Publicação
Effect of sustainability practices and B-Corporation sustainability certificate on customers intention to use
| Resumo: | In today’s business environment the companies are changing towards more sustainable operations and are obtaining sustainability certificates to prove it. Previous research has mostly separately focused on the effects of the changes in sustainability practices and certificate ownership from the business view. This paper fills the gap by examining the effect of both effects together on consumers’ perception, using an experimental study. With an online survey, each of the 400 participants was presented with one of eight scenarios with which the effect of sustainable practices of a company and a B Corp certificate on the intention to use was measured. Half the scenarios investigated products, while the other one presented services. The results suggest that consumers base part of their purchase intention on the company's sustainability practices. On the one side, if a company is not visibly sustainable, showing the certificate decreases consumers’ intention to use in all cases, potentially suggesting greenwashing in the eyes of the consumer. On the other side, if a company displays its sustainability practices, the response on a certificate depends on the type of customer (employed or not) and the company (providing a product or service). Moreover, people with knowledge of B Corp perceive certified companies differently and, in many cases, more sustainable than others. These findings suggest that the certificate could significantly influence customers' decisions, which could be even more emphasized with additional education and knowledge about sustainable certificates. |
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| Autores principais: | Apih, Filip Smrekar |
| Assunto: | Sustainability B Corp certificate attitudes customer perception services products |
| Ano: | 2023 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | dissertação de mestrado |
| Tipo de acesso: | acesso aberto |
| Instituição associada: | Universidade Nova de Lisboa |
| Idioma: | inglês |
| Origem: | Repositório Institucional da UNL |
| Resumo: | In today’s business environment the companies are changing towards more sustainable operations and are obtaining sustainability certificates to prove it. Previous research has mostly separately focused on the effects of the changes in sustainability practices and certificate ownership from the business view. This paper fills the gap by examining the effect of both effects together on consumers’ perception, using an experimental study. With an online survey, each of the 400 participants was presented with one of eight scenarios with which the effect of sustainable practices of a company and a B Corp certificate on the intention to use was measured. Half the scenarios investigated products, while the other one presented services. The results suggest that consumers base part of their purchase intention on the company's sustainability practices. On the one side, if a company is not visibly sustainable, showing the certificate decreases consumers’ intention to use in all cases, potentially suggesting greenwashing in the eyes of the consumer. On the other side, if a company displays its sustainability practices, the response on a certificate depends on the type of customer (employed or not) and the company (providing a product or service). Moreover, people with knowledge of B Corp perceive certified companies differently and, in many cases, more sustainable than others. These findings suggest that the certificate could significantly influence customers' decisions, which could be even more emphasized with additional education and knowledge about sustainable certificates. |
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