Brand, Identity and Reputation: Exploring, Creating New Realities ...

Non-monetary factors, such as effort required to purchase the product (Cronin, Brady, Brand, Hightower, & Shemwell,
1997; Petrick, 2002), are also involved in the decision to adopt a brand. Limited availability of the brand to distribution
channels is an obstacle to consumer purchase behaviour towards green brands (Baker et al., 2002; Yoo, Donthu, & Lee,
2000). Time costs (waiting time, travel time, searching time) also negatively affect CV (Bender, 1964; Huber,
Herrmann, & Morgan, 2001; Zeithaml, 1988). Moreover, psychological costs (such as frustration, anxiety, annoyance)
and evaluation costs (associated with the effort to collect information and evaluate alternative brands) have also been
identified by literature (Burnham, Frels, & Mahajan, 2003). Finally, performance risks or uncertainty costs (perceptions
of risk surrounding the brand performance) are negatively related to CV (Bettman, 1973; Jones, Mothersbaugh, &
Beatty, 2002; Sweeney, Soutar, & Johnson, 1999).
Although these types of value and cost have received empirical support over various product categories, in the specific
context of green brands previous research has not offered a systematic conceptualization of CV. Thus, the only types of
value that have been identified are social value (Oliver & Lee, 2010) and altruistic value (Bhattacharya, Korschun, &
Sen, 2009; Pickett-Baker & Ozaki, 2008). As far as the cost component is concerned, the limited availability of the
green brand (Bhate & Lawler, 1997; Shaw & Clarke, 1999), the lack of information (Carrigan & Attalla, 2001; de
Pelsmacker et al., 2005) and the potential sacrifice on product performance (Luchs, Naylor, Irwin, & Raghunathan,
2010) are the only empirically tested types of cost.
The extent to which the consumer perceives all these different types of value and cost is expected to be moderated by
certain psychographic characteristics. First, personal environmental consciousness and its descendents, including
beliefs, knowledge and behavioural intentions, guides the general predisposition to act in a pro-environmental way (De
Groot & Steg, 2007; Mostafa, 2007; Schlegelmilch, Bohlen & Diamantopoulos, 1996). Furthermore, involvement
appears to influence the importance that consumers ascribe to certain product attributes (Sriram & Forman, 1993).
Therefore, environmental consciousness and involvement form a framework in which judgments of brand value and its
respective trade-offs are completed.
Methodology/ Approach
The study draws upon existing literature in the fields of CV and branding and applies basic findings in the specific
context of consumer-green brands relationships. Figure 1 depicts the set of relationships to be empirically tested. The
conceptual model warrants empirical validation. Furthermore, quantitative research will examine the relative effect of
each type of value and cost on the strength of consumer-green brand relationship. As far as the operationalization of the
model is concerned, the researchers will choose two product categories characterised with availability of green brands
and of different levels of consumer involvement in order to test the relative effect of the proposed antecedents on
mediators and outcomes. Constructs will be measured with well-established scales (e.g. PERVAL scale by Sweeney &
Soutar, 2001).
Findings
Research is still at an early stage; since the researchers have developed the conceptual model, the empirical research is
being designed.
Research limitations/ Implications
This research enables commencement of the empirical examination of the factors that practically contribute or constrain
the consumer building of relationships with green brands.
Moreover, whether types of value and cost have a direct (Baker et al., 2002; Zeithaml, Berry, & Parasuraman, 1996) or
indirect mediated by CV (Sweeney et al., 1999; Zeithaml, 1988) effect on consumer behaviour is an unresolved as yet
research question attached to several managerial implications; for example, consumers may reject green brands due to
the increased effort required to access them or due to their higher prices without considering the types of value that the
brand is offering. Thus, future research aiming at testing the effects of types of value and sacrifice on consumer
behaviour both directly and directly should be conducted.
Originality/ Value
This conceptual paper is the first to apply an integrated model of CV in the green marketing context. Although previous
studies have supported several drivers and barriers regarding the willingness to buy green brands (e.g. price, lack of
information), no previous work, either conceptual or empirical, has systematically developed an analytical model of the
drivers of CV under a relationship marketing perspective. This research attempts to broaden our understanding of the
antecedents that determine the relationship quality between a consumer and a brand, fulfilling an identified gap in the
literature of green consumer behaviour (Follows & Jobber, 2000; Thøgersen, 1999). Empirical findings will provide
marketing practitioners with knowledge on the utility and sacrifice parameters most important to target green consumers
segments.
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