IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i16p12212-d1214052.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of Customer-Centric Sustainability on Brand Relationships

Author

Listed:
  • Mafalda Nogueira

    (IPAM, Portuguese Institute of Marketing Management, 4100-320 Porto, Portugal)

  • Bruno Silva

    (IPAM, Portuguese Institute of Marketing Management, 4100-320 Porto, Portugal)

  • Sandra Gomes

    (IPAM, Portuguese Institute of Marketing Management, 4100-320 Porto, Portugal)

Abstract

This paper contributes to the existing but scarce literature on customer-centric sustainability and measures consumers’ perceptions of fast-fashion brands regarding economic, environmental, and social sustainability. Furthermore, it aims to test the impact of each dimension of customer–brand relationships, specifically brand trust, affective brand commitment, and continuance brand commitment. A research model and nine hypotheses were tested through multiple linear regressions using a convenience sample of 228 Portuguese fast-fashion consumers. It also provides additional insights into how consumers’ perceptions of the three dimensions of sustainability might affect customer–brand relationships, namely brand trust and brand commitment. The results reveal a significant relationship between all dimensions of customer-centric sustainability and brand trust. Furthermore, economic sustainability and social sustainability were found to significantly predict effective brand commitment. Additionally, this study demonstrates that brand trust positively influences consumers’ intentions to maintain long-term relationships with fast-fashion brands. The implications of the results are discussed in detail, shedding light on the importance of incorporating customer-centric sustainability practices into brand management strategies within the fast-fashion industry. Further elaboration and discussion of the results can be found in this study.

Suggested Citation

  • Mafalda Nogueira & Bruno Silva & Sandra Gomes, 2023. "The Impact of Customer-Centric Sustainability on Brand Relationships," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-15, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:16:p:12212-:d:1214052
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/16/12212/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/16/12212/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Matilde Milanesi & Yuliia Kyrdoda & Andrea Runfola, 2022. "How do you depict sustainability? An analysis of images posted on Instagram by sustainable fashion companies," Journal of Global Fashion Marketing, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 101-115, April.
    2. Róbert Štefko & Vladimira Steffek, 2018. "Key Issues in Slow Fashion: Current Challenges and Future Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-11, July.
    3. Debra Grace & Mitchell Ross & Ceridwyn King, 2018. "Brand fidelity: a relationship maintenance perspective," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 25(6), pages 577-590, November.
    4. Samy Belaïd & Azza Temessek Behi, 2011. "The role of attachment in building consumer-brand relationships: an empirical investigation in the utilitarian consumption context," Post-Print hal-02180696, HAL.
    5. Xiaoqian Lu & Tong Sheng & Xiaolan Zhou & Chaohai Shen & Bingquan Fang, 2022. "How Does Young Consumers’ Greenwashing Perception Impact Their Green Purchase Intention in the Fast Fashion Industry? An Analysis from the Perspective of Perceived Risk Theory," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-17, October.
    6. Hyo Jung (Julie) Chang & Tun-Min (Catherine) Jai, 2015. "Is fast fashion sustainable? The effect of positioning strategies on consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 11(4), pages 853-867, October.
    7. Hyo Jung (Julie) Chang & Tun-Min (Catherine) Jai, 2015. "Is fast fashion sustainable? The effect of positioning strategies on consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 11(4), pages 853-867, October.
    8. Lee, Corrinne Mei Jyin & Che-Ha, Norbani & Syed Alwi, Sharifah Faridah, 2021. "Service customer orientation and social sustainability: The case of small medium enterprises," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 751-760.
    9. Spencer M. Ross & George R. Milne, 2021. "Price? Quality? Or Sustainability? Segmenting by Disposition Toward Self-other Tradeoffs Predicts Consumers’ Sustainable Decision-Making," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 172(2), pages 361-378, August.
    10. Virginia Rolling & Amrut Sadachar, 2018. "Are sustainable luxury goods a paradox for millennials?," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 14(4), pages 802-815, September.
    11. Bo Zhang & Yaozhong Zhang & Peng Zhou, 2021. "Consumer Attitude towards Sustainability of Fast Fashion Products in the UK," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-23, February.
    12. Marko Sarstedt & Erik Mooi, 2014. "A Concise Guide to Market Research," Springer Texts in Business and Economics, Springer, edition 2, number 978-3-642-53965-7, March.
    13. Achabou, Mohamed Akli & Dekhili, Sihem, 2013. "Luxury and sustainable development: Is there a match?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(10), pages 1896-1903.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Oguzhan Essiz & Aysu Senyuz, 2024. "Predicting the value‐based determinants of sustainable luxury consumption: A multi‐analytical approach and pathway to sustainable development in the luxury industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 1721-1758, March.
    2. Jacqueline Siwale & Victor Chikampa & Nelson .C. Kabanda & Lungowe Chindele & Mary.S.Lubinda, 2023. "The Relationship Between Brand Experience, Brand Satisfaction and Brand Loyalty. An Empirical Study of Imported Second Hand Vehicle Buyers In Zambia," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 7(3), pages 44-61, March.
    3. Luming Zhao & Jiaxi Peng & Shubin Yu, 2023. "Sustainable Luxury and Consumer Purchase Intention: A Systematic Literature Review," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.
    4. Paulo Botelho Pires & Fabiana Oliveira de Sousa & José Duarte Santos, 2025. "Identifying Positioning Axes for Building Brand Equity in Cork Fashion Products," Central European Business Review, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2025(1), pages 19-55.
    5. Mahesh Shaw & Abhijit Majumdar & Kannan Govindan, 2022. "Barriers of social sustainability: an improved interpretive structural model of Indian textile and clothing supply chain," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(6), pages 1616-1633, December.
    6. Roghayeh Teimourfamian Asl & Soheila Khoddami, 2023. "A Framework for Investigating Green Purchase Behavior with a Focus on Individually Perceived and Contextual Factors," Business Perspectives and Research, , vol. 11(1), pages 94-111, January.
    7. Dan-Cristian Dabija & Veronica Câmpian & Anna-Rebeka Pop & Raluca Bãbu?, 2022. "Generating loyalty towards fast fashion stores: a cross-generational approach based on store attributes and socio-environmental responsibility," Oeconomia Copernicana, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 13(3), pages 891-934, September.
    8. Andreza de Aguiar Hugo & Jeniffer de Nadae & Renato da Silva Lima, 2021. "Can Fashion Be Circular? A Literature Review on Circular Economy Barriers, Drivers, and Practices in the Fashion Industry’s Productive Chain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-17, November.
    9. Jennifer Kunz & Stephanie May & Holger J. Schmidt, 2020. "Sustainable luxury: current status and perspectives for future research," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 13(2), pages 541-601, July.
    10. Pengji Wang & Adrian T. H. Kuah & Qinye Lu & Caroline Wong & K. Thirumaran & Emmanuel Adegbite & Wesley Kendall, 2021. "The impact of value perceptions on purchase intention of sustainable luxury brands in China and the UK," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(3), pages 325-346, May.
    11. Adam Malešević & Dušan Barać & Dragan Soleša & Ema Aleksić & Marijana Despotović-Zrakić, 2021. "Adopting xRM in Higher Education: E-Services Outside the Classroom," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-20, July.
    12. Chuanlan Liu & Jeremy M. Bernardoni & Zhongjie Wang, 2023. "Examining Generation Z Consumer Online Fashion Resale Participation and Continuance Intention through the Lens of Consumer Perceived Value," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-18, May.
    13. Sangryeong Lee & Soo-Kyoung Lee & Jin-Woo Park, 2024. "The Effect of Service Quality and Sustainability Practices on Brand Equity: The Case of Korean Air Passengers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-20, May.
    14. Luigi Leclercq-Machado & Aldo Alvarez-Risco & Romina Gómez-Prado & Berdy Briggitte Cuya-Velásquez & Sharon Esquerre-Botton & Flavio Morales-Ríos & Camila Almanza-Cruz & Sarahit Castillo-Benancio & Mar, 2022. "Sustainable Fashion and Consumption Patterns in Peru: An Environmental-Attitude-Intention-Behavior Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-18, August.
    15. Costa Synodinos, 2019. "Environmental purchase behaviour concerns of African Generation Y students in South Africa," Proceedings of International Academic Conferences 9912363, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences.
    16. Fabien Martinez, 2014. "Corporate strategy and the environment: towards a four-dimensional compatibility model for fostering green management decisions," Post-Print hal-02887618, HAL.
    17. Tarcia Camily Cavalcante Quezado & Nuno Fortes & William Quezado Figueiredo Cavalcante, 2022. "The Influence of Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Ethics on Brand Fidelity: The Importance of Brand Love and Brand Attitude," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-20, March.
    18. Marzanna Witek-Hajduk & Tomasz Marcin Napiórkowski, 2017. "Manufacturers’ Benefits from Their Cooperation with Key Retailers in the Context of Business Models: A Cluster Analysis," International Journal of Management, Knowledge and Learning, International School for Social and Business Studies, Celje, Slovenia, vol. 6(1), pages 97-114.
    19. Riffat Ara Zannat Tama & Md Mahmudul Hoque & Ying Liu & Mohammad Jahangir Alam & Mark Yu, 2023. "An Application of Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to Examining Farmers’ Behavioral Attitude and Intention towards Conservation Agriculture in Bangladesh," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-22, February.
    20. repec:ipg:wpaper:2014-496 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Hugo Padrón-Ávila & Raúl Hernández-Martín, 2019. "Preventing Overtourism by Identifying the Determinants of Tourists’ Choice of Attractions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-17, September.

    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:15:y:2023:i:16:p:12212-:d:1214052. 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.