The perfect combination to win the competition: Bringing sustainability and customer experience together

Abstract

Understanding the connection between how consumers perceive sustainability andhow they experience the offered products or services can make a big difference forcompanies to stay ahead of the competition. When companies work to make theirproducts and services align with what their customers value, like being eco-friendlyand socially responsible, it may not only draw in new customers but also make theexisting ones stick around. Using behavioral reasoning theory, we attempt to explorethe impacts of perceived benefits and skepticism on attitude toward sustainabilityand the moderating role of customer experience on the relationship between thesevariables and loyalty. Findings (n = 660) showed that attitude toward sustainabilitymediates the relationship between perceived benefits, skepticism, and customer loy-alty. Furthermore, our findings highlighted that customer experience moderates therelationship between attitude toward sustainability and loyalty. The details of themoderation analysis suggest that cognitive, affective, physical, and social experienceshave a stronger effect than sensory experiences in reinforcing the impact of per-ceived benefits and attitude on consumer loyalty in a sustainability context. The arti-cle concludes with implications and research directions for further investigation.