Dear Colleagues,

The ESG (environment, social and governance) movement primarily started from the greater public and community demands regarding the societal impacts made by companies. It has evolved to focus on investors’ demands that businesses accept accountability for their environmental, social, and governance practices to safeguard investors’ long-term investment (Stephenson et al., 2021). Gradually, it has overtaken CSR (corporate social responsibility) and its variants as the primary framework for judging a firm’s societal and environmental footprints (Gillan, Koch & Starks, 2021).

The ESG movement has been gaining momentum in the digital age as more highly informed and conscious consumers are becoming more aware of the importance of supporting companies that achieve and maintain strong ESG performance (Etter, Fieseler, & Whelan, 2019). However, there is little evidence that consumer support has spilled over into the daily routines of an average consumer. The rewards of consuming products from providers of environmental or social impacts have not been considered a boon by the average consumer. To take a step further, we should also include community wellbeing into ESG approaches, which firms need to involve in different layers of strategy (Suzanne, Jo & Belinda, 2011). Furthermore, the debate on the manifestations of actual or perceived benefits does not often extend well beyond the academic environment. Similarly, when a significant number of consumers have indicated that they would avoid consuming products from companies with a negative environmental or social impact, realizing such a consequence is difficult to measure, if not entirely philosophical. The marketing performance of the ESG movement still needs more evidence in various industries (Paolone, et al, 2021).

On the other hand, ESG ratings are usually measured by rating agencies that also offer credit rating services. These rating agencies assess companies’ ESG performance based on various factors. The selection criteria often relate ESG performance to credit rating and/or market performance (Buallay, Al-Ajmi, & Barone, 2021; Garcia & Orsato, 2020). Given marketers’ longstanding inability to quantify consumers’ impacts, the degree to which consumers are given priority to competing stakeholder claims and interests has been somewhat neglectful (Ramasamy et al., 2010). In particular, researchers have had much greater success when aligning ESG metrics with investment solutions and less when aligning ESG efforts with consumer perceptions.

We perceived the rising need for better aligning ESG efforts with consumer perception and repositioning consumers’ rightful place in stakeholder salience and community engagement from a broader perspective. Especially for customer-based companies that are required to satisfy new digital-age consumers, several research topics emerge and are worth our renewed attention, which the present Special Issue seeks to address. The range of research areas for inquiry includes, but is not limited to, the following aspects:

1. To what extent can customer behaviour influence a firm’s ESG marketing strategy?
2. To what extent can a firm’s ESG policies influence customer behaviour?
3. To what extent do a firm’s ESG metrics influence buying decisions?
4. What are the industry-specific ESG issues concerning consumer rights and protections in the digital age?
5. What are the moderating factors affecting the relationship between ESG efforts and consumer support for ESG?
6. How should organizations engage their consumers to align perceptions to customer support?
7. What are the specific customer behaviours that influence a firm’s ESG policy and performance?
8. How do digital customers differ from traditional customers in influencing a firm’ ESG policies and performance?
9. Is there a protocol for integrating customer perspective into an organization’s ESG strategies and performance?
10. What have been the best practices for integrating consumers into ESG strategies in the digital age?
11. How do organizations actively involve customers and communities as knowledgeable active participants in co-value creation?
12. How should organizations use their ESG performance as an image-management tool to influence their customers?
13. What are the post-COVID-19 developments in consumer behaviour and participation in ESG strategies and ESG performance?
14. What are the challenges and practical solutions to navigate the evolving nature of ESG obligations and risks?

This Special Issue will give preference to studies which provide a collective new ground that will become the foundation for an interest in sustainable development in the future. We expect that the results of the selected studies will help to advance theories or strategies and/or put theories into practice.

Buallay, A., Al-Ajmi, J., & Barone, E. (2021). Sustainability engagement’s impact on tourism sector performance: linear and nonlinear models. Journal of Organizational Change Management. doi:10.1108/jocm-10-2020-0308

Campin, S., Barraket, J., & Luke, B. (2013). Micro-business community responsibility in australia: Approaches, motivations and barriers: Jbe. Journal of Business Ethics, 115(3), 489-513. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-012-1396-1

Etter, M., Fieseler, C., & Whelan, G. (2019). Sharing Economy, Sharing Responsibility? Corporate Social Responsibility in the Digital Age: JBE. Journal of Business Ethics, 159(4), 935-942. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-019-04212-w

Garcia, A. S., & Orsato, R. J. (2020). Testing the institutional difference hypothesis: A study about environmental, social, governance, and financial performance. Business Strategy and the Environment, 29(8), 3261-3272. doi:10.1002/bse.2570

Gillan, S.L., Koch, A. Starks, L.T. (2021) Firms and social responsibility: A review of ESG and CSR research in corporate finance, Journal of Corporate Finance, 66, 10189.

Paolone, F., Cucari, N., Wu, J., & Tiscini, R. (2021). How do ESG pillars impact firms’ marketing performance? A configurational analysis in the pharmaceutical sector. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 37(8), 1594-1606. doi:10.1108/jbim-07-2020-0356

Ramasamy, B., Yeung, M.C.H. & Au, A.K.M. (2010) Consumer Support for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): The Role of Religion and Values. Journal of Business Ethics, 91 (Suppl 1), 61–72.

Stephenson, M., Hamid, M. F. S., Peter, A., Sauvant, K. P., Seric, A., & Tajoli, L. (2021). More and better investment now! How unlocking sustainable and digital investment flows can help achieve the SDGs. Journal of International Business Policy, 4(1), 152-165. doi:10.1057/s42214-020-00094-2

Prof. Dr. Alan KM AU
Dr. Nina Xie
Dr. Matthew Yeung
Dr. Leven Jianwen Zheng
Guest Editors

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• sustainable development
• ESG and consumer-oriented companies
• driving consumer preference using ESG
• modern digital consumer behaviour
• community involvement