Business School

Sustainability and societal issues in marketing

This research stream is concerned with the impact that marketing practice may have on society and vice-versa. It 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?