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What We Did
This research creates a B2B sustainability positioning scale and taxonomy. First, interviews with buyers and marketing managers determined perceptions of supplier sustainability practices and defined B2B levels of sustainability. Second, exploratory and confirmatory scale development studies were conducted with 578 experienced industrial buyers. The resulting B2B sustainability positioning scale shows that a sustainably superior positioning for B2B addresses five key factors: (1) sustainability credibility, (2) concern for environmental impact, (3) a careful consideration of stakeholders, (4) resource efficiency, and (5) a holistic philosophy. This scale is intended as a tool to help B2B marketers understand and better leverage their sustainability practices and communications around sustainability.
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Who Was Involved
Dr Sommer Kapitan, AUT, and Nicole Berth.
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Why It Matters
Business-to-business (B2B) buyers are finding it increasingly difficult to judge the true sustainability of supply chain partners (Oruezabala & Rico, 2012). Yet three quarters of buyers in the OECD report they will dismiss potential supply chain partners who fail to meet sustainability criteria (Pierre, 2008). B2B firms then, cannot afford any confusion over their sustainability practices and positioning. Unfortunately, there are no sustainability positioning measures for firms to assess this, and there is no agreed upon operationalization of a highly sustainable firm vs a weakly sustainable firm. As such, this research creates a B2B sustainability positioning scale and taxonomy so firms can measure their sustainability positioning.
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Learn More
- Kapitan, S., Kennedy, A. and Berth, N. (2019) Sustainably superior versus greenwasher: A scale measure of B2B sustainability positioning. Industrial Marketing Management, Vol. 76 (January), p84-97.
- Kapitan, S. and Kennedy, A. (2015) Achieve Sustainable Superiority by Communicating Green Practices and Ideals, in Arenstein, S. (ed), The Book of CSR & Green PR: Strategies & Tactics, PR News Press: Rockville, MD, pp. 146-149.
