Antecedents and consequences of integrating sustainability into marketing communication: The role of sustainability officers
(A2026-134089)

AUTHORS

Alan Mathew Kunnumpuram, Norwegian School of Economics; Magne Supphellen, Norwegian School of Economics; Nhat Le, Norwegian School of Economics

ABSTRACT

Across two studies involving Chief Sustainability Officers from 267 Scandinavian companies, we examine and test key antecedents and consequences of integrating sustainability into marketing communication strategies. We suggest that such integration is pivotal to modern firms and find that the level of integration has significant impact on the trustworthiness of sustainability communication and firm reputation. Secondly, we examine the role of Chief Sustainability Officers (CSOs) and show that the Self-efficacy of CSO is a strong determinant of the level of integration of sustainability in marketing communications. Moreover, we find that this effect of Self-efficacy is negatively moderated by firm size and market orientation. Finally, we tested several antecedents of CSO Self-efficacy and show that the mastery expectations of CSOs are significantly related to: CSO sense of purpose, past success of CSO, support from superiors, and budget decision power.