Building corporate reputation through consumer responses to green new products
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Abstract
The importance of sustainability to customers, companies, and society requires an examination of the effects of green new products (GNPs). This study extends past research by examining consumer responses to a GNP and their impact on a parent firm’s corporate reputation (CR). Survey responses were used to test a structural model that investigated whether consumer responses to a new wind farm bolstered an energy service company’s CR. Results suggest adding a GNP to a service company’s portfolio can improve consumer-based perceptions of CR. Perceptions of fit between the GNP and its larger parent company were also found to moderate explanatory links in the model. However, preexisting beliefs consumers held about the value of CSR practices and the importance of the CSR domain in which those actions were engaged did not. Strategic implications discuss how service managers can better use GNP associations to boost CR.
Keywords
Corporate reputation Green new products Services CSR SustainabilityReferences
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