IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i2p882-d723781.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of Communicating Sustainability and Ethical Behaviour of the Cosmetic Producers: Evidence from Thailand

Author

Listed:
  • Hiroko Oe

    (The Business School, Bournemouth University, Poole BH12 5BB, UK)

  • Yasuyuki Yamaoka

    (Faculty of Society and Industry, The Open University of Japan, Chiba 261-8586, Japan)

Abstract

Purpose—This study aims to demonstrate the antecedent factors of consumers’ cosmetics purchasing behaviour in the emerging market of Thailand from the perspective of sustainability. Specifically, the study aims to quantitatively analyse the impact of three hypothesised antecedents of consumer behaviour: product quality, communicating sustainability, and ethical business behaviour. Methodology—A quantitative methodology is applied in the study, which collects survey data from Thailand. This study focuses on two cosmetic brands in Thailand, a domestic brand and an international brand. The total 800-sample dataset was analysed using Structural Equation Modelling to validate a conceptual model with measurements of three antecedent factors: quality, ethical behaviour, and communication sustainability. Findings—It is found that ‘ethical behaviour of the producers had a non-significant impact for all samples and the ‘domestic brand’, whereas communicating sustainability had a significant impact in all sample cases. The proposed measurement scales present a practical and pioneering tool for assessing consumer responses and behaviour towards cosmetic brands. The set of scales will also help cosmetics marketers to appraise their strategic planning and monitor their progress toward creating and identifying consumer loyalty to cosmetics brands via producers’ ethical behaviour and CSR messaging. Originality—The global market and inter-stakeholder communications have greatly changed the way people perceive, behave towards, and react to business suppliers. The understanding of consumer brand loyalty in the cosmetics industry and the business strategies focused on the impact of communicating sustainability with ethical behaviour remain limited, especially in the context of the emerging market. This research contributes to filling this gap with empirical analyses.

Suggested Citation

  • Hiroko Oe & Yasuyuki Yamaoka, 2022. "The Impact of Communicating Sustainability and Ethical Behaviour of the Cosmetic Producers: Evidence from Thailand," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-20, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:2:p:882-:d:723781
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/2/882/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/2/882/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ghazali, Ezlika & Soon, Pat Chen & Mutum, Dilip S. & Nguyen, Bang, 2017. "Health and cosmetics: Investigating consumers’ values for buying organic personal care products," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 154-163.
    2. Jahn, Johannes & Brühl, Rolf, 2019. "Can bad news be good? On the positive and negative effects of including moderately negative information in CSR disclosures," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 117-128.
    3. Jesús J. Cambra‐Fierro & J. Alfredo Flores‐Hernández & Lourdes Pérez & Guadalupe Valera‐Blanes, 2020. "CSR and branding in emerging economies: The effect of incomes and education," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(6), pages 2765-2776, November.
    4. Yung-Hsin Lee & Shui-Lien Chen, 2019. "Effect of Green Attributes Transparency on WTA for Green Cosmetics: Mediating Effects of CSR and Green Brand Concepts," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-15, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Camelia Grădinaru & Daniel-Rareș Obadă & Ioan-Alexandru Grădinaru & Dan-Cristian Dabija, 2022. "Enhancing Sustainable Cosmetics Brand Purchase: A Comprehensive Approach Based on the SOR Model and the Triple Bottom Line," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-22, October.
    2. Camila Kolling & José Luis Duarte Ribeiro & Donato Morea & Gianpaolo Iazzolino, 2023. "Corporate social responsibility and circular economy from the perspective of consumers: A cross‐cultural analysis in the cosmetic industry," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(3), pages 1226-1243, May.
    3. José Magano & Manuel Au-Yong-Oliveira & Bruna Ferreira & Ângela Leite, 2022. "A Cross-Sectional Study on Ethical Buyer Behavior towards Cruelty-Free Cosmetics: What Consequences for Female Leadership Practices?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-15, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. María Luisa Pajuelo‐Moreno & María Jesús Barroso‐Méndez & Dolores Gallardo‐Vázquez, 2024. "Relationship between sustainability disclosure and corporate reputation: Evidence from a meta‐analysis," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(8), pages 8593-8615, December.
    2. Osarodion Ogiemwonyi & Muhammad Tahir Jan, 2025. "Causal analysis of social media on environmental and health concerns, attitudes, and social influence that leads to green purchase behavior," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 22(3), pages 713-749, September.
    3. Yam B. Limbu & A. F. M. Jalal Ahamed, 2023. "What Influences Green Cosmetics Purchase Intention and Behavior? A Systematic Review and Future Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-15, August.
    4. Tello, Mario A., 2020. "Conceptualizing social impact: A geographic perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 562-571.
    5. Ngan Thanh Nguyen & Khoi Minh Nguyen, 2025. "Consumer sacrifice for sustainability and well-being: examining the moderating role of social value, self-actualization, and narcissism," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 22(3), pages 571-602, September.
    6. Hui Yang & Pengpeng Zhang & Haijiao Liu, 2023. "The influence of the brand image of green agriculture products on China’s consumption intention——The mediating role of perceived value," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(10), pages 1-19, October.
    7. Cindy Grappe & Cindy Lombart & Didier Louis & Fabien Durif, 2022. "Clean labeling: Is it about the presence of benefits or the absence of detriments? Consumer response to personal care claims," Post-Print hal-04293232, HAL.
    8. Mohsin, Ali & Karim, Emadul, 2020. "Role of Client Relationship Marketing in the Banking Sector of Pakistan," MPRA Paper 110097, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Ashish Ashok Uikey & Ruturaj Baber & Zericho R Marak, 2025. "Transforming Green Transparency into Green Brand Loyalty and Repurchase Intentions: The Role of Brand Image and Credibility among Electric Vehicle Users," Post-Print hal-04925852, HAL.
    10. Eunyoung Choi & Kun Chang Lee, 2019. "Effect of Trust in Domain-Specific Information of Safety, Brand Loyalty, and Perceived Value for Cosmetics on Purchase Intentions in Mobile E-Commerce Context," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-24, November.
    11. Norazira Mohd Abas & Nurul Zamratul Asyikin Ahmad & Ahmad Harith Syah Md Yusuf & Adi Hakim Talib & Ridzuan Adli Azidin, 2024. "The Clean Beauty: Factors Affecting Organic Cosmetics Purchase Intention among Malaysian Millennials," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 8(9), pages 3046-3055, September.
    12. Piwońska Kalina & Urbańska Michalina & Pilarska Eliza & Miniszewski Maciej & Staniszewski Jakub & Kryszak Łukasz, 2021. "Managing sustainable consumption of durable goods – A systematic literature review," Management, Sciendo, vol. 25(2), pages 73-90, December.
    13. Francesco Testa & Gaia Pretner & Roberta Iovino & Guia Bianchi & Sara Tessitore & Fabio Iraldo, 2021. "Drivers to green consumption: a systematic review," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 4826-4880, April.
    14. Adriana Amaya Rivas & Ying-Kai Liao & Minh-Quan Vu & Chia-Sheng Hung, 2022. "Toward a Comprehensive Model of Green Marketing and Innovative Green Adoption: Application of a Stimulus-Organism-Response Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-17, March.
    15. Victoria-Sophie Osburg & Iain Davies & Vignesh Yoganathan & Fraser McLeay, 2021. "Perspectives, Opportunities and Tensions in Ethical and Sustainable Luxury: Introduction to the Thematic Symposium," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(2), pages 201-210, March.
    16. Guo, Wenshan & Luo, Qiangqiang, 2023. "Investigating the impact of intelligent personal assistants on the purchase intentions of Generation Z consumers: The moderating role of brand credibility," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    17. Fan Wang & Brad D. Carlson, 2024. "Self-disclosure of content creators: A systematic review and holistic framework," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 14(3), pages 239-257, December.
    18. Ihsan Ullah Jan & Seonggoo Ji & Chankoo Yeo, 2019. "Values and Green Product Purchase Behavior: The Moderating Effects of the Role of Government and Media Exposure," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-16, November.
    19. Guo, Chunying & Yang, Baochen & Fan, Ying, 2022. "Does mandatory CSR disclosure improve stock price informativeness? Evidence from China," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    20. Tan Pei Kian, 2021. "Consumer Purchase Intention for Organic Personal Care Product," GATR Journals jmmr283, Global Academy of Training and Research (GATR) Enterprise.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:2:p:882-:d:723781. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.