Abstract
Given that there are increasing concerns regarding the ethical issues and sustainability of fashion products, fashion retailers are communicating their sustainable efforts on social media on a larger scale. Through analyzing 12,744 tweets from six fashion brands, we find that the tweets about sustainability positively affect consumer engagement on social media. Compared to the tweets about environmental sustainability, the tweets about social sustainability have a significantly positive effect on customer engagement. Regarding the type of fashion brands, we find that the tweets from luxury brands can increase customer engagement. Therefore, we suggest managers, especially in luxury fashion brands, should put more effort into communicating sustainability with consumers on social media.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baier, D., Rausch, T.M., Wagner, T.F.: The drivers of sustainable apparel and sportswear consumption: a segmented Kano perspective. Sustainability 12(7), 2788 (2020)
Barger, V., Peltier, J.W., Schultz, D.E.: Social media and consumer engagement: a review and research agenda. J. Res. Interact. Mark. 10(4), 268–287 (2016)
Cachon, G.P., Swinney, R.: The value of fast fashion: quick response, enhanced design, and strategic consumer behavior. Manag. Sci. 57(4), 778–795 (2011)
Casadesus-Masanell, R., Crooke, M., Reinhardt, F., Vasishth, V.: Households’ willingness to pay for “green” goods: evidence from Patagonia’s introduction of organic cotton sportswear. J. Econ. Manag. Strategy 18(1), 203–233 (2009)
Charter, M., Peattie, K., Ottman, J., Polonsky, M.J.: Marketing and Sustainability. Centre for Business Relationships, Accountability, Sustainability and Society (BRASS) in Association with The Centre for Sustainable Design, April 2002
Davies, I.A., Lee, Z., Ahonkhai, I.: Do consumers care about ethical-luxury? J. Bus. Ethics 106(1), 37–51 (2012)
de Lenne, O., Vandenbosch, L.: Media and sustainable apparel buying intention. J. Fashion Mark. Manag. 21(4), 483–498 (2017)
Dempsey, N., Bramley, G., Power, S., Brown, C.: The social dimension of sustainable development: defining urban social sustainability. Sustain. Dev. 19(5), 289–300 (2011)
Grover, P., Kar, A.K., Ilavarasan, P.V.: Impact of corporate social responsibility on reputation—insights from tweets on sustainable development goals by CEOs. Int. J. Inf. Manag. 48, 39–52 (2019)
Heine, K., Berghaus, B.: Luxury goes digital: how to tackle the digital luxury brand–consumer touchpoints. J. Glob. Fashion Mark. 5(3), 223–234 (2014)
Hill, J., Lee, H.H.: Young generation Y consumers’ perceptions of sustainability in the apparel industry. J. Fashion Mark. Manag. 16(4), 477–491 (2012)
Hollebeek, L.D., Glynn, M.S., Brodie, R.J.: Consumer brand engagement in social media: conceptualization, scale development and validation. J. Interact. Mark. 28(2), 149–165 (2014)
Kapferer, J.-N., Michaut-Denizeau, A.: Is luxury compatible with sustainability? Luxury consumers’ viewpoint. J. Brand Manag. 21(1), 1–22 (2014)
Kitchen, P.J., Kim, I., Schultz, D.E.: Integrated marketing communications: practice leads theory. J. Advert. Res. 48(4), 531–546 (2008)
Kotler, P., Armstrong, G.: Principles of Marketing. Pearson Education, Singapore (2010)
Kumar, V., Rahman, Z., Kazmi, A., Goyal, P.: Evolution of sustainability as marketing strategy: beginning of new era. Proc. Soc. Behav. Sci. 37, 482–489 (2012)
Lam, H.K., Yeung, A.C., Lo, C.K., Cheng, T.: Should firms invest in social commerce? An integrative perspective. Inf. Manag. 56(8), 103164 (2019)
Lee, D., Hosanagar, K., Nair, H.S.: Advertising content and consumer engagement on social media: evidence from Facebook. Manag. Sci. 64(11), 5105–5131 (2018a)
Lee, S.H.-N., Zhou, Y., Lo, C.K., Ha-Brookshire, J.: Luxury fashion brands versus mass fashion brands: data mining analysis of social media responses toward corporate sustainability. In Sustainability in Luxury Fashion Business, pp. 51–73. Springer (2018b)
Manetti, G., Bellucci, M.: The use of social media for engaging stakeholders in sustainability reporting. Account. Audit. Account. 29(6), 985–1011 (2016)
Niinimäki, K.: Eco-clothing, consumer identity and ideology. Sustain. Dev. 18(3), 150–162 (2010)
Shen, B., Zheng, J.-H., Chow, P.-S., Chow, K.-Y.: Perception of fashion sustainability in online community. J. Text. Inst. 105(9), 971–979 (2014)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Yuen, K.M., Zeng, F., Lo, C.K.Y. (2021). Sustainable Communication and Customer Engagement on Social Media. In: Martínez-López, F.J., Gázquez-Abad, J.C. (eds) Advances in National Brand and Private Label Marketing. NB-PL 2021. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76935-2_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76935-2_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-76934-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-76935-2
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)