מיקוד-חברה או מיקוד-מוצר? - השפעת מיקוד הקיימות על עמדות הצרכנים כלפי מוצרי יוקרה ירוקים

As luxury brands are increasingly integrating sustainable attributes into their products,extant research offers contradictory findings regarding consumers' response towards such products. Given the added environmental benefits of sustainable luxury products,it is worth identifying conditions that enhance consumers' positive response towards these products. The current research studies a characteristic of consumer behavior in the context of marketing communication that has not been explored previously and can shed light on the contradictory findings: a brand's sustainability association - whether the sustainable luxury product's marketing communication is associated with the product itself (product-focused sustainability association) or with the company behind the product (company-focused sustainability association). A field study and two lab experiments show that, when faced with marketing communication regarding a sustainable luxury product, consumers respond more favorably in the presence of a company-focused (as opposed to product-focused) sustainability association. The perceived (positive) environmental impact of consumers serves as the underlying mechanism for this effect.