How Disclosure Types of Sustainability Performance Impact Consumers’ Relationship Quality and Firm Reputation

Abstract

Given that firms attempt to gain competitive advantages from corporate sustainability schemes, we employed an experiment to examine different types of sustainable performance disclosure—output, outcome and impact—that best promote the quality of relationships with consumers, relationships with the firm around satisfaction and trust, and perceived reputation. Derived from a student sample of 254 respondents from a business school in Thailand, the findings indicate that, among different levels of sustainability performance disclosure, consumers are more likely to perceive the satisfaction, trust, and reputation of the firm as higher if the firm demonstrates the impact (rather than output or outcome) of sustainable performance. Results are consistent across observed product and service categories. Implications of findings and directions for future studies are also discussed.