Sustainability and societal issues in marketing

Sustainability and societal issues in marketing is concerned with the impact that marketing practice may have on society and vice-versa.

This research stream addresses issues such as sustainable marketing practice and its environmental consequences, sustainable consumption, anti-consumption, social marketing, ethics and corporate social responsibility.

Research in this area currently encompasses:

  • Marketing and sustainability - Barriers to, and facilitators of, more sustainable consumption practices, from reducing carbon footprints to food choices, and motivations for voluntary simplification or "down-shifting" in consumption.
  • Consumer resistance and anti-consumption - For example, why consumers resist the consumption of certain brands, services, and products, and why some consumers are morally opposed to dominant companies.
  • Dissatisfaction and complaining behaviour - How do consumers respond when their expectations are disconfirmed?
  • Alternative marketing practices - Marketing approaches adopted by organisations outside the mainstream, including not-for-profit organisations, fair trade organisations, and farmers’ markets.
  • Corporate social responsibility, ethics, and frameworks of dominance, justice and hegemony in the contemporary market - For example, how do consumers react to domineering brands or companies in a globalised marketplace?

Researchers in sustainability and societal issues in marketing

Contact details

For more information please contact:

Associate Professor Michael Lee
Associate Professor
Email: msw.lee@auckland.ac.nz
Phone: +64 9 923 5953