The Impact of ESG on Brand Trust and Word of Mouth in Food and Beverage Companies: Focusing on Jeju Island Tourists

Abstract

This study conducted to verfiy the structural causal relationship between the ESG attributes of food and beverage companies, trust, and word of mouth (WOM) as perceived by consumers visiting Jeju Island. The present study used respondents who understand ESG management and selected a representative ESG management company in the food service business (e.g., Starbucks Reusable Cup or Samdasoo Unlabeled, etc.). A survey was requested from an online survey company, and total 521 participants were selected for the data analysis. The IBM 24.0 program and AMOS 22.0 program was employed to conduct statistic analysis. Present study demonstrated as follows. First, as a result of the hypothesis testing of the relationship between the three attributes of ESG and brand trust, the environmental factor (E) and the social factor (S) have a significant positive (+) effect on brand trust. Second, hypothesis testing on the relationship between the three attributes of ESG and the influence of WOM showed that environmental factors and social factors were critical antecedents of WOM. Next, verifying the hypothesis between brand trust and WOM, brand trust had a significant positive (+) effect on WOM. By verifying the hypotheses, the current study identified a critical relationship between the ESG management attributes of food and beverage companies and customers’ brand trust and WOM. These founding showed differences in the variables that directly affect brand trust and WOM among the ESG attributes recognized by tourists in Jeju Island about Jeju-based food and beverage companies practicing ESG management. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the value formed by these food and beverage companies’ ESG management activities could directly affect consumers’ brand trust and WOM intentions. Hence, the study intends to expand the range of ESG-related academic views and suggest meaningful marketing implications for various food and beverage companies that want to practice ESG management.