A Strategic Marketing Framework for Emerging Out of the Climate Change Social Trap: The Case of the Fashion Industry

Abstract

Climate change mitigation is arguably the most significant challenge of the twenty-first century. On the foundations of research on social traps by economists and behavioral scientists, this research: (1) conceptualizes the climate change social trap as the behavior of entities (firms, individuals, or social groups) favoring short-term positive consequences over long-term negative consequences of climate change for society; (2) provides a brief overview of the impact of the fashion industry on climate change; (3) develops a summary overview of research on social traps and taxonomies of solutions for social traps; (4) discusses, in detail, a strategic marketing framework built on a taxonomy developed in macromarketing; and (5) using the framework, evaluates 130 leading companies in the fashion industry with reference to their strategic marketing efforts to draw insights for emerging out of the climate change social trap. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of this research for marketing theory and practice in helping firms emerge out of social traps in general, and the climate change social trap in particular.