Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Sustainability consumption has been the major barrier the world has to overcome to meet the Sustainable Development Goal 12 (responsible consumption and production) requirements. Even though raising consciousness has been one of the main reasons for the organizations that would still choose the unsustainable way of doing things, they often argue about the poor quality of the marketing done and the corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives that the companies might have. In this study, the roles of Innovative Digital Marketing Strategies (IDMS), CSR initiatives and consumer awareness of sustainability (CAS) in fostering sustainable consumption behaviour (SCB) are investigated. A quantitative method was employed, where data were collected using structured online questionnaires, and the subsequent analysis was performed using descriptive statistics, independent sample t-test, correlation and multiple regression in SPSS version 26. The results showed that IDMS, CSR initiatives and CAS have a positive and significant impact on SCB, with the regression results providing the strongest predictive power of IDMS and CSR. The findings support the idea of integrating sustainability into brand communication and CSR practices as a way of facilitating consumer behaviour change that is more than just superficial. The research area contributes to the theory of sustainable marketing, stakeholder theory and service industry, giving practical insights to organizations that are setting out to design effective, transparent and sustainability-oriented digital strategies.

Keywords

Consumer awareness corporate social responsibility digital marketing Sustainable Development Goal 12 sustainable consumption

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Arangodan

, & Sajeev

(2024a). Corporate sustainability: The role of consumer skepticism, transparency, and marketing in greenwashing practices. Corporate Governance Insight , 6(2), 51–68. https://doi.org/10.58426/cgi.v6.i2.2024.51-68

Arangodan

, & Sajeev

(2024b). Diversity, equity, and inclusion: Employees perspectives on sustainable business practices (pp. 348–367). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003487180-27

Arangodan

, & Sajeev

(2024c). Navigating sustainability: Assessing the imperative of ESG considerations in achieving SDGs. In ESG frameworks for sustainable business practices (pp. 53–84). https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3693-3880-3.ch003

Arangodan

, & Sajeev

(2024d). Role of social entrepreneurship in sustainable development. In Advances in business strategy and competitive advantage book series (pp. 193–224). https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3693-4338-8.ch008

Arangodan

, & Sajeev

(2025). Resilient and sustainable organizations (pp. 35–58). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3373-0608-7.ch003

Bui

T.-D.

, Lim

M. K.

, Sujanto

R. Y.

, Ongkowidjaja

, & Tseng

M.-L.

(2022). Building a hierarchical sustainable consumption behavior model in qualitative information: Consumer behavior influences on social impacts and environmental responses. Sustainability , 14(16), 9877. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14169877

Chirilli

, Molino

, & Torri

(2022). Consumers’ awareness, behavior and expectations for food packaging environmental sustainability: Influence of socio-demographic characteristics. Foods , 11(16), 2388. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11162388

Cuesta-Valiño

, Penelas-Leguía

, & Durán-Álamo

(2022). How to communicate SDG 12 in social media. In Practice, progress, and proficiency in sustainability (pp. 21–36). https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-6684-7499-0.ch002

Ferreira-Lopes

, Van Rompay-Bartels

, Bezanilla

M. J.

, & Elexpuru-Albizuri

(2022). Integrating SDG 12 into business studies through intercultural virtual collaboration. Sustainability , 14(15), 9024. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14159024

10.

Fonseca

, da Fonseca Carvalho

F. J.

, & Santos

(2023). Strategic CSR: Framework for sustainability trough management systems standards—Implementing and disclosing sustainable development goals and results. Sustainability , 15(15), 11904. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202306.1030.v1

11.

Gallo

, Pacchera

, Cagnetti

, & Silvestri

(2023). Do sustainable consumers have sustainable behaviors? An empirical study to understand the purchase of food products. Sustainability , 15(5), 4462. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15054462

12.

Ganglmair-Wooliscroft

, & Wooliscroft

(2022). An investigation of sustainable consumption behavior systems—Exploring personal and socio-structural characteristics in different national contexts. Journal of Gong, Y., Xiao, J., Tang, X., & Li, J. (2023). How sustainable 04.049

13.

Gong

, Xiao

, Tang

, & Li

(2023). How sustainable marketing influences the customer engagement and sustainable purchase intention? The moderating role of corporate social responsibility. Frontiers in Psychology , 14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1128686

14.

Greenland

S. J.

, Nguyen

, & Strong

(2023). Irresponsible marketing and the need to support pro-sustainable production and consumption. Journal of Strategic Marketing , 34, 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1080/0965254x.2023.2230487

15.

Hair

J. F.

, Black

W. C.

, Babin

B. J.

, & Anderson

R. E.

(2010). Multivariate data analysis (7th ed.). Pearson.

16.

Jayaprakash

, & Pillai

R. R.

(2018). Role of Indian ICT organisations in realising sustainable development goals through corporate social engagement. In Advances in theory and practice of emerging markets (pp. 49–65). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78378-9_3

17.

Jia

, Iqbal

, Ayub

, Fatima

, & Rasool

(2023). Promoting responsible sustainable consumer behavior through sustainability marketing: The boundary effects of corporate social responsibility and brand image. Sustainability , 15(7), 6092. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15076092

18.

Jiang

, Jotikasthira

, & Pu

(2022). Toward sustainable consumption behavior in online education industry: The role of consumer value and social identity. Frontiers in Psychology , 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.865149

19.

Miguel

, & Miranda

(2023). The role of digital platforms in promoting pro-sustainable behavior and conscious consumption by brands. Ecocycles , 9(2), 37–48. https://doi.org/10.19040/ecocycles.v9i2.298

20.

Ozuem

, & Ranfagni

(Eds.). (2023). Sustainable marketing, branding and CSR in the digital economy . MDPI. https://doi.org/10.3390/books978-3-0365-7097-6

21.

Pham

, Dang

H. P.

, & Nguyen-Viet

(2023). How can CSR in demarketing trigger brand advocacy and mindful consumption? Mediating roles of perceived corporate hypocrisy and brand credibility. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal , 27(5), 851–869. https://doi.org/10.1108/jfmm-08-2022-0162

22.

Radziszewska

(2022). The impact of green marketing on sustainable consumption behaviour (pp. 214–225). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003270768-21

23.

Rosário

A. T.

, Lopes

P. R.

, & Rosário

F. S.

(2023). The digital marketing for sustainable development. The Digital Marketing for Sustainable Development . https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202307.0330.v1

24.

Sawicka

, & Marcinkowska

(2022). The effect of CSR environmental initiatives on purchase decisions—A cross-regional study in Poland and Ukraine. Sustainability , 14(5), 2590. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14052590

25.

Sharma

, Shah

, Joshi

, Youssef

A. B.

, & Misra

(2023). Digital innovation and sustainability driven consumer behavior: A review and research agenda. Business, Economics and Management . https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202306.1604.v1

Empowering Sustainable Consumption Through Innovative Digital Marketing and Strategic CSR: A Pathway to Achieving SDG 12

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References