Sustainability and Societal Relevance I: Evidence from AiMark Data
(A2025-126255)

AUTHORS

Julian Wichmann, Tilburg University; Maren Becker, ESCP Business School; Jenna Barrett, Tilburg University; Sertan Eravci, University of Münster; Niels Holtrop, Maastricht University

ABSTRACT

Society at large increasingly expects companies to pursue not only profit maximization but also to recognize and act on their ecological and societal responsibilities. This shift is evident in consumers demanding eco-friendly products, firms adopting corporate social responsibility initiatives, institutional investors prioritizing ESG criteria, and governments incentivizing sustainable corporate practices. Hence, the marketing discipline must better understand these sustainable and societally relevant outcomes—ranging from low-carbon product purchases to recycling rates, organ donor registrations, and consumer health—and its role in improving them. This special session aims to address this need by highlighting cutting-edge research that explores outcomes related to sustainability and societal relevance. The session puts a particular emphasis on managerial impact and external validity by focusing on projects that use quantitative research methods and field data—specifically from the AiMark organization, which provides academics with longitudinal household-level purchase data for 37 countries across the globe. The session features the following papers: The Effect of Household Income on the Environmental Impact of Grocery Baskets Jenna Barrett1*, Max Pachali1, Bart Bronnenberg1 1Tilburg University Combining panel data on grocery purchases with life cycle estimates of emissions and administrative data on household income and wealth, this research explores the effect of income changes on the environmental costs of food purchases. The results show a positive, albeit small effect of income increases on the carbon footprint of grocery baskets. How Product Category Inflation Impacts Organic Purchase Shares Sertan Eravci1*, Nina Mack1, Stijn Maesen2, Manfred Krafft1 1University of Münster, 2Imperial College Business School This paper quantifies product category inflation and studies how it affects the share of organic products in households’ shopping baskets. Additionally, the study considers how category and household characteristics moderate this effect. The Impact of the First Light Purchase on Subsequent Purchase Behavior across Households and Categories Niels Holtrop1*, Kathleen Cleeren2, Kelly Geyskens1, Peter C. Verhoef3 1Maastricht University, 2KU Leuven, 3University of Groningen Past research in the chips category indicates that low fat/sugar (“light”) nutrition claims can increase amount and calories purchased. Generalizing this finding to 26 categories, this research finds that the amount of products indeed increases but overall calorie purchases decrease long-term. Hence, light claims may indeed increase healthiness, albeit to varying degrees across categories, products, and households. When Sustainability Meets Controversy: The Impact of Sustainability Claims in Advertisements on Brand and Societal Outcomes and The Moderating Role of Radical Activism Julian R.K. Wichmann1*, Maren Becker2, Norris I. Bruce3 1Tilburg University, 2ESCP Business School, 3UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School This research examines how sustainability claims in TV ads impact brand outcomes and sustainable consumer behaviors. In addition, the paper investigates how these effects are moderated by radical activism events (e.g., blocking roads) which—given their controversial nature—may impede the effectiveness of sustainability claims.