Digital marketing and sustainability

a study on consumer perceptions

Abstract

The use of digital marketing to promote sustainability is a controversial topic, as it can be complex to associate a set of strategies aimed at encouraging consumption with environmental sustainability. Nevertheless, digital marketing allows us to reach consumers globally and the promotion of sustainability is urgent in our society at a global level. In this line of thinking, this study aims to investigate the relationship between digital marketing, its tools and the presence on social networks by brands with online sustainability communication and, thus, test the proposed structural model. In this sense, in the empirical part, a questionnaire survey was conducted with 423 participants, 149 (35.2%) men, 273 (64.5%) women and 1 (0.2%) participants of another gender, with an average age of 42.74% (SD = 15.94%), who responded to measures aimed at evaluating the presence of brands on social networks, the use of digital marketing by organizations, the importance attached to digital marketing tools and online sustainability communication. After performing the path analysis, the validation, or not, of the five research hypotheses formulated is presented. The results obtained indicate the existence of a relationship between digital marketing and the communication of sustainability through digital. Subsequently, practical examples of the use of digital marketing, its tools and social networks to promote sustainability and communicate it better are discussed