Dear Colleagues,

Today, sustainability has taken a central position in order to appeal to consumers. This is especially important when we consider the rapid modifications in consumers’ habits that have arisen in recent times due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, the global economic recession evokes new tendencies, including greater preferences for environmental sustainability, instead of “unthinking” consumerism (Frantz, 2000). Moreover, corporations are responding to the pandemic by putting purpose first, developing a holistic approach that aims to create social, environmental, and economic value.

Analyzing responsible consumers’ behaviors represents a recent interest of marketing scholars that requires a multidimensional approach, in which sustainability takes a central position. To appeal to such consumers, organizations must consider multiple factors oriented toward social, economic, and environmental sustainability.

Sarah Boumphrey, the Global Research Director of Euromonitor, states in a recent report (Euromonitor, 2000) that consumers’ attitudes toward sustainability topics are changing, and corporations are responding to the pandemic by putting purpose first. For this research firm, this means that the idea of sustainability evolves beyond the inclusion of ethical credentials and environmental concerns, such as plastic pollution and climate change, to a more holistic approach that aims to create social, environmental, and economic value. For businesses, this shift to pursuing purpose over profit was happening before the COVID-19 outbreak, but the global health pandemic has increased momentum.

In this context, more responsible and well-informed consumers are highly concerned about social and environmental issues. Today, these customers have a new role in brand creation and decision-making processes, not just being committed to the search for solutions, but involved in the whole process. Thus, they have acquired a leading role in the marketing channel due to their ability to access information aimed at choosing among a wide range of product-brand options, at better prices, through sophisticated technological means to access them in a short period of time. Moreover, this generation of consumers demand a highly customized approach across all dimensions of businesses.

Considering these ideas, the scope and purpose of this Special Issue is to shed light on the decision-making processes related to ethical and responsible practices by both consumers and organizations based on a sustainable approach. The contribution of this issue will be highly relevant for corporations operating in the “ethical” scene, such as b-corporations, social enterprises, and conventional corporations motivated for a necessary behavioral change.

In that sense, we welcome scientific papers that covers (but is not limited exclusively to) the following topics that may affect consumer behavior:

• Sustainable brands: values (transparency, safety, sustainable sourcing, etc.), attributes, positioning, social–environmental labels, and certifications;
• Consumer perception and attitudes of sustainable brands and green consumer segmentation;
• Economic, social, and environmental sustainability practices that benefit customers, locally produced goods or support of local communities;
• Practices oriented toward fostering a more sustainable procurement and supply chain management, and which have an impact on consumption, such as energy saving and reduction on water/plastic usage;
• Improving shopping experience in the digital and sustainability age;
• Social innovation, movements, and business in transitions to sustainability;
• Sustainable tourism and mobility

We invite submissions that present original and high-quality research work on these issues that are affecting consumer behavior. We will consider submissions that introduce new research problems and concepts, develop novel and rigorous methodologies to tackle the problems, and present innovative applications. Papers may employ a range of research methods including, but not limited to, conceptual models and theoretical investigation, systematic literature reviews, analytical empirical models, such as data-driven methodologies, surveys, simulation, or case studies. Successful real-world implementations are strongly encouraged.

References

Euromonitor (2020). How will consumer markets evolve after coronavirus? Introduction to our Covid-19 themes. Available online: https://go.euromonitor.com/white-paper-2020-covid-19-themes.html (accessed on 24 October 2020).

Frantz, G. (2000). “Consumerism, Conformity and Uncritical Thinking in America”, HLS student paper, Available online: https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/8846775 (accessed on 24 October 2020).

Prof. Dr. Mónica Gómez-Suárez
Prof. Dr. Victoria Labajo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• consumer
• behavior
• sustainability
• brands
• circular economy
• values
• local communities
• sustainable sourcing
• green consumer
• sustainability age
• social innovation