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This research aims to investigate the effectiveness of integrated marketing communication (IMC) messages in demarketing campaigns, particularly considering the consumer’s background in corporate social responsibility orientation (CSRO).

A 2 (publicity type: green, demarketing) × 2 (ad type: green, demarketing) between-subjects experiment assessed the impact of green marketing and demarketing strategies on consumers with varying levels of CSRO. The study utilized a mix of green and demarketing publicity and advertisements to explore their effects on the perception of the brand’s honesty. Additionally, the research investigated the mediating role of “brand as honest” in shaping purchase intention and anticipated product satisfaction.

Results revealed that for individuals with lower CSRO, the combination of green or demarketing strategies had no significant impact on the perception of the brand’s honesty. However, for those with higher CSRO, the brand was perceived as more honest when demarketing publicity was followed by a demarketing (vs green) advertisement. These effects on purchase intention (if one needed to buy a product of this type) and anticipated product satisfaction (which could help lower repeat and follow-up purchases) occurred through the mediating role of “brand as honest.”

Based on the belief congruence theory, this research contributes to the existing literature by specifically focusing on the effectiveness of IMC messages in demarketing campaigns, considering consumers’ CSRO backgrounds. The study offers original insights into the interplay between demarketing strategies, brand perception and consumer behavior.

Green demarketing, which promotes anti-consumption as a more extreme sustainability tactic, could help consumers and societies move toward healthier consumption patterns while building strong, long-lasting relationships with consumers. As even the most committed brands find the need to oscillate between demarketing and conventional marketing for survival, this research tests how the congruency of the campaign shown on a brand's home page (owned media) and a following retargeting ad (paid media) could impact perceived congruency and further downstream effects. In doing so, this research proposes that the media context (i.e. news or shopping browsing context) in which the retargeting ad is embedded could determine how much congruency of the demarketing campaign across owned and paid media matters.

An experiment with a 2 (home page content: green vs. demarketing) × 2 (retargeting ad content: product vs. demarketing) × 2 (browsing context: shopping vs. news) between-subjects factorial design was employed with an online panel of 430 participants. The participants first saw the brand's home page content, then were assigned to a website browsing context where the retargeting ad of the brand was embedded.

In a news browsing context, users perceived higher congruency when product retargeting ads (vs. demarketing) were shown after a green home page exposure and when demarketing retargeting ads (vs. products) were delivered after a demarketing home page. The elevated perceived congruency successfully led to higher ad argument and ad attitude. These differences were not present in a shopping browsing context. These results showed that the congruency between the home page and the retargeting ad for demarketing campaigns mattered more in certain media contexts (i.e. news browsing context).

The study closes the empirical gap in demarketing brand activism campaigns by demonstrating when and how congruency between multiple owned and paid channels for demarketing campaigns impacts consumer responses. This study provides evidence of how the match of the demarketing campaign shown on a brand's home page and a following retargeting ad could impact perceived congruency and further downstream effects of ad argument and ad attitude while considering different browsing context effects.

The call for consumption reduction behavior has been getting more attention from scholars and practitioners. However, the consumption reduction often receives backfire from consumers because it does not follow the business philosophy of demand creation. Thus, this research dissolves this issue by using a holistic corporate social responsibility (CSR) approach regarding sustainable development.

A conceptual model was developed to represent the proposed relationships among the related variables. The current study employed an online survey to collect data from 341 international program students of three prominent universities in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

The findings indicate that the perception of the holistic CSR negatively impacts perceived corporate hypocrisy, triggering in turn brand credibility, resulting in brand advocacy and mindful consumption behavior.

This research forms a holistic CSR including economic, environmental and societal dimensions and proposes that the holistic CSR triggers brand advocacy and mindful consumption behavior representing consumption reduction behavior via the mediating roles of perceived corporate hypocrisy and brand credibility. These findings contribute to theoretical and managerial implications in CSR practices with the aim of consumption reduction.

Given the multifaceted nature of research in green advertising (GA), it is critical to holistically review the extant literature to understand their contributions. This study aims to perform a hybrid literature review by combining citation analysis and a theory-context-method (TCM) framework to map the conceptual development of GA in the past three decades.

Using the SPAR-4-SLR technique, the current study identified the literature contributions of 133 articles published between 1993 and 2024 in the Scopus and Web of Science databases.

The study’s findings identified that certain theories, such as attribution theory and signalling theory have been used frequently in investigating the influence of GA on consumer behavior. The context analysis identified emerging themes like green trolling and green demarketing. This study also proposes substantial avenues with alternative theories for further advancement of GA research.

By conducting a hybrid literature review, this study identifies the highly cited articles and sources and provides a comprehensive synthesis of GA research.

Analysis of 133 articles from eight subject areas identified various themes in GA, aiding future researchers in identifying potential research opportunities and for marketers to develop appropriate strategies for their GA campaigns.

This study is the initial attempt to perform a hybrid literature review on GA using citation analysis and TCM framework.

Despite a growing interest in investigating green skepticism, there has been a paucity of effort in synthesizing green skepticism research. This study aims to synthesize extant green skepticism research. This study is useful in providing a comprehensive synthesis of research on green skepticism and identifying key gaps in the existing literature, thereby paving the way for future research directions. This research demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of the dominant theories, contexts (i.e. countries), characteristics (i.e. key variables and their associations) and methods (i.e. research design) employed in green skepticism research.

A hybrid review method that combined an Systematic Literature Review (SLR) with lexicometric analysis was employed to present a comprehensive synthesis of the green skepticism literature.

The findings showed that many theories have been applied to green skepticism research with the theory of planned behavior and attribution theory being prominently used. The review also proposes a conceptual framework that illustrates the relationships between antecedents and consequences reported in the green skepticism literature. Lexicometric analysis identified six major themes in green skepticism research, including trust in green products, product-related attributes, environmental attributes, social responsibility, organic consumption and promotional campaigns.

This review included only papers authored in English. Consequently, studies conducted in other languages were not taken into account. Future research could broaden the understanding of green skepticism by incorporating studies conducted in different languages.

This study provides practical implications for retailers, marketers and policymakers to combat green skepticism and encourage the purchase of green items. This study suggests integrating endorsements from authorized third-party organizations or celebrities into green marketing campaigns to reduce skepticism. Further, aligning corporate social responsibility efforts with genuine social welfare goals can build consumer trust. Finally, securing third-party endorsements for ecological claims will emphasize product credibility and drive green purchase intention.

To the authors’ knowledge, this study represents the first attempt to review the extant literature in green skepticism by integrating a systematic review approach, lexicometric analysis and the Theory-Context-Characteristics-Methodology framework. Through this approach, (1) SLR provides a detailed synthesis of green skepticism research to date, (2) Lexicometric analysis aids in the identification of key themes investigated in green skepticism research to date, and (3) the TCCM framework assists in identifying crucial avenues for future research endeavors in the realm of green skepticism.

Given the challenging economic conditions and unstable employment situation in developing countries like Iran, sustainable development has become a primary focus. With coastlines along both the north and south, the growth and development of coastal and marine tourism could provide a solid foundation for generating stable and continuous income streams. This research investigates the factors that facilitate and hinder communication between local communities and key stakeholders in the development of coastal tourism.

The research community comprised local communities, tourists, and government officials involved in tourism processes. Participants were selected based on specific criteria through targeted sampling, resulting in a total of 17 samples. The primary research tool utilized was semi-structured interviews. Interview questions were developed within the frameworks of two theories: social exchange and social network theory. Data analysis was conducted using thematic analysis methods.

The results indicated that all the promoting and inhibiting factors can be categorized into four themes: economic, socio-cultural, environmental, and institutional governance. According to the analyzed data, the inhibiting factors in the environmental sector significantly outnumber the driving factors. In contrast, in the other sectors, the gap between the driving and inhibiting factors is smaller.

This research provides a novel perspective on advancing green evangelism. By strengthening emotional connections with the brand, green evangelism lays the groundwork for developing green respect and green credibility. This approach, which focuses on enhancing emotional bonds with the brand, contributes to the expansion of the green brands in developing countries. Therefore, instead of direct advertising for green brands, the focus should be on attracting key customers to form a community dedicated to the green brand.

The growing tensions related to overtourism and its influences, such as environmental harm to nature and residents' well-being, loss of authenticity and visitors' satisfaction, have triggered a rethinking of destination marketing strategies. Many destinations consider stricter measures to cope with this situation. Among others, demarketing initiatives, which aim at discouraging demand, are discussed as an alternative strategic orientation. Demarketing is not a new concept, but in complex tourism destinations with many attractions, stakeholders and tourists, its potential remains mostly unexplored. This chapter presents findings from two tourism destinations: one on a national scale, New Zealand, and one on a regional scale, the Lofoten Islands, Norway. Our results show that destination demarketing mix strategies are emphasised by both destinations. In an overtourism situation, it is surprising that general demarketing has limited relevance. Instead, we find evidence for a mix of mainly selective demarketing, but also synchromarketing initiatives (redistributing demand spatially and temporally) and counter-marketing efforts (tourists' code of conduct). Decisions related to the implementation of a demarketing mix depend not only on destination management in general, but also on long-term, sustainability-oriented and dynamic processes where stakeholders negotiate how they can adjust visitor demands. We refer to such strategic work as ‘Stakeholder Integrated Demarketing Approach’ (SIDA). The chapter provides an original contribution to tourism academia and practices while opening avenues for future research, particularly with reference to a demarketing mix strategy and the feasibility of SIDA in times when demarketing could develop as a tool to mitigate overtourism.

Consumer behavior is evolving rapidly due to the increasing role of technology in daily life. Online food ordering has emerged as a key channel in this changing landscape. This paper investigates the relationships between online promotions, consumer skepticism, information sharing on social media and the intention to purchase food and beverages through online delivery services.

Measures were developed based on a review of existing literature. Data from 402 participants were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM).

The study reveals that online promotions significantly impact consumers' sharing of restaurant posts. Additionally, consumer skepticism about online food sales affects both their sharing behavior and their intention to purchase online. Engagement in sharing restaurant posts online is a strong predictor of online food purchasing intentions.

The findings offer valuable insights for restaurant operators, policymakers and technology developers in the competitive online food delivery sector. They emphasize the importance of implementing innovative promotions and crafting appealing food presentations. These strategies can accelerate customer decision-making, attract new customers and contribute to market expansion and customer base sustainability.

This research provides significant insights for restaurant owners and contributes to the limited literature on online promotions, consumer skepticism and information sharing in the restaurant industry. It also lays the groundwork for future studies aimed at deepening understanding in this field.

This study aims to examine the influence of green message types on brand awareness and intention to share, and subsequently how perceived value leads to purchase intentions at green coffee retailers.

A 2 × 2 between-subjects design was developed, yielding four green advertising messages for the study. The structural relationships between variables were then tested by covariance-based structural equation modeling.

The most effective green advertising messages combined benefit-based text with images of green materials' benefits. These messages influenced consumers' perceived green awareness, intentions to share online ads and purchase intentions at green coffee retailers. Additionally, awareness of coffee retailers' green practices led to higher emotional value perception compared to other values. Emotional and functional values influenced purchase intentions at eco-friendly coffee retailers.

The results of this study suggest effective ways of designing green advertising messages to increase consumer awareness of green products, sharing online ads and intentions to buy beverages from eco-friendly coffee retailers.

This study contributes to sustainability literature, dual coding theory and consumer value theory.

Products that espouse environmental ethical principles have received increasing attention in recent years. However, one key barrier against sustainable consumption is that green attributes could result in consumer’s expectation of decreased product physical performance. This study aims to investigate how green attributes existing in different product categories affect consumer purchase intention.

Two experimental studies were conducted to test the hypotheses. Study 1 provides initial evidence of the interaction effects between green attributes and product category on consumer purchase intention. Study 2 replicates the findings of Study 1 and further tests a benefits-based mechanism in the relationship between green attributes and consumer purchase intention.

The findings show that in the utilitarian product category, products with green peripheral attributes result in a higher purchase intention than those with green core attributes, whereas, in the hedonic product category, products with green core attributes result in a higher purchase intention than those with green peripheral attributes. Furthermore, the authors demonstrate that green attributes, as universal sustainability cues predominantly affect consumers’ perceptions of utilitarian environmental benefits and self-expression benefits, which further enhance their purchase intention towards utilitarian products and hedonic products, respectively.

This study responds to the calls for more empirical studies into discussing the role of green attributes in consumer purchase intention. Furthermore, it uncovers a benefits-based mechanism that explains how green attributes existing in utilitarian product categories and hedonic product categories trigger consumers’ analysis of benefits, leading to positive consumer purchase intention.