Journal
PSYCHOLOGY & MARKETING
Volume 39, Issue 10, Pages 1933-1945Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/mar.21709
Keywords
information complexity; negative effect; product perception; self-perception; sustainability; sustainable consumption; systematic review
Categories
Funding
- Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship
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This study focuses on the negative side-effects of corporate sustainability and identifies unintended negative side-effects of product and service sustainability. It provides managerial implications on sustainable communication and suggests future research directions.
The existential need for more sustainable production and consumption has attracted substantial scholarly interest, which has focused on the positive outcomes of corporate sustainability. Negative side-effects have been largely neglected. This study contributes (1) by synthesizing past research into such negative side-effects from a diverse set of business disciplines; (2) by conceptualizing-for the first time-unintended negative side-effects of product and service sustainability; and (3) by developing a research agenda guiding researchers in addressing the most important knowledge gaps. The synthesis of 94 articles identifies three main cognitive mechanisms (information elaboration, product perception bias, and self-perception) and several emotionally aversive states (anxiety, shame, guilt, regret, distress, reduced enjoyment, frustration, discomfort, stress, and embarrassment) that are responsible for unintended negative side-effects resulting from product and service sustainability. Immediate managerial implications from this study include the critical importance of simple corporate sustainable communication that does not require consumers to dedicate substantial cognitive resources. Important future research directions include the investigation of the effects of green hushing and the development and testing of practical ways to help companies to avoid the sustainability liability trap, which leads to reduced demand because of sustainable features of products or services.
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