A study based on a master’s thesis on the influence of sustainability aspects on product perception was honoured twice with the AMTP Best Paper Award.
Phillip Frankhofer is a graduate of the Master’s program in Marketing & Sales Management at FHWien der WKW. In his master’s thesis, he analysed the influence of sustainability features in the packaging design of milk packaging, such as organic labels, images of nature and local origin information, on consumers’ product perception and purchase intention. This is the first time that the effect of a combination of different verbal and visual sustainability signals on the preferences of different types of consumers is analyzed, thereby creating a consensus that had previously been lacking and closing an important research gap. His topic is particularly relevant because of an increase in environmentally conscious consumption, which is forcing brands to communicate their sustainability efforts via product packaging.
Representative online experiment reveals scepticism towards sustainability promises
For his thesis, the graduate conducted an online experiment with 178 Austrians. The Master’s thesis was supervised by Senior Researcher David Bourdin, who analysed the data in more detail in further scientific studies. In addition to the results of the Master’s thesis, a confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the reliability and validity of the constructs collected. The subsequent structural equation modelling revealed theoretically justifiable mediation and interaction effects.
The results reveal the following:
- An organic label and images of nature (e.g. cows on a pasture) on milk packaging indirectly increase purchase intention, as the product is perceived as more environmentally friendly.
- The “Made in Austria” label has no effect whatsoever – presumably because it is taken for granted for milk in Austria.
- The use of ecological-looking motifs only unfolds its full potential if consumers can convince themselves of the implicit sustainability claim of the brand through the simultaneous presence of additional verbal information on the packaging (e.g. an organic label).
- The positive effect of images of nature on product perception is weakened if consumers exhibit a high degree of “greenwashing” scepticism
- Increased environmental awareness increases scepticism towards green brand promises.
Best Paper Award for study by AMTP
David Bourdin presented the paper on the study entitled “The Interplay of Organic Label, Natural Imagery, and Domestic Country-of-Origin Claim in Shaping Consumer Responses: Independent, Interactive, and Conditional Effects” at the Association for Marketing Theory & Practice (AMTP) conference in March. The 32nd conference took place from March 13, 2024 to March 16, 2024 on Hilton Head Island in the US state of South Carolina. The presentation received two awards:
- Best Paper in Brand Strategy & Marketing Management Track Award
- Thomas Ponzurick Top Paper in Conference Award (award for the best submission)