TY - JOUR
T1 - Can a meta sustainability label facilitate more sustainable consumer choices?
AU - Torma, Gabriele
AU - Thøgersen, John
PY - 2024/2
Y1 - 2024/2
N2 - The current sustainability labeling landscape has been accused of creating unnecessary consumer confusion due to too much, too complex, too similar, and too ambiguous information. Meta-sustainability labeling is proposed as a solution. We provide the first evidence on the added value of this instrument based on a survey in the USA (N = 518) and Germany (N = 520). Participants were randomly allocated to one of four different conditions: (1) traditional labeling, (2) new, common label design, (3) traditional labeling plus meta label, and (4) new, common label design plus meta label. The study confirms the preference for sustainability-labeled products in both countries. In the USA, the new, common label design outperforms traditional labeling. Adding a meta label reduced the effect. In Germany, both the common labeling design and the meta label improved the effectiveness of sustainability labeling for some consumer segments. The new designs are built on the branding of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, which makes them practically relevant for global implementation.
AB - The current sustainability labeling landscape has been accused of creating unnecessary consumer confusion due to too much, too complex, too similar, and too ambiguous information. Meta-sustainability labeling is proposed as a solution. We provide the first evidence on the added value of this instrument based on a survey in the USA (N = 518) and Germany (N = 520). Participants were randomly allocated to one of four different conditions: (1) traditional labeling, (2) new, common label design, (3) traditional labeling plus meta label, and (4) new, common label design plus meta label. The study confirms the preference for sustainability-labeled products in both countries. In the USA, the new, common label design outperforms traditional labeling. Adding a meta label reduced the effect. In Germany, both the common labeling design and the meta label improved the effectiveness of sustainability labeling for some consumer segments. The new designs are built on the branding of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, which makes them practically relevant for global implementation.
KW - consumer confusion
KW - discrete choice experiment
KW - latent class analysis
KW - meta sustainability label
KW - sustainable development goals (SDGS)
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85163572443&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/bse.3488
DO - 10.1002/bse.3488
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85163572443
SN - 0964-4733
VL - 33
SP - 283
EP - 306
JO - Business Strategy and the Environment
JF - Business Strategy and the Environment
IS - 2
ER -