The Impact of Sustainable Sourcing on Customer Perceptions: Association by Guilt from Scandals in Local vs. Offshore Sourcing Countries

Claire Veit, Wim Lambrechts, Lieven Quintens and Janjaap Semeijn
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Claire Veit: School of Business and Economics, Maastricht University, Tongersestraat 53, 6211 LM Maastricht, The Netherlands
Wim Lambrechts: Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management, Open University of The Netherlands, P.O. Box 2960, 6401 DL Heerlen, The Netherlands
Lieven Quintens: School of Business and Economics, Maastricht University, Tongersestraat 53, 6211 LM Maastricht, The Netherlands
Janjaap Semeijn: School of Business and Economics, Maastricht University, Tongersestraat 53, 6211 LM Maastricht, The Netherlands

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 7, 1-18

Abstract: This study analyzes whether customer perceptions towards sustainability are affected by a company’s country of origin and sourcing strategies. This study builds upon the literature regarding customer interest in sustainable products. It adds the country of origin to the link between customer and company, and analyzes if and how customer perceptions change when they are introduced to a sustainability scandal, hence analyzing possible ‘association by guilt’. It compares their reactions to offshore scandals and to local scandals, therefore taking psychic distance as an important variable into consideration. Customer perceptions of company sustainability was found to have an impact on purchasing behavior. Findings show that perceptions are influenced by psychic distance. Furthermore, companies should take into account the risk of association by guilt when developing their global sourcing strategies.

Keywords: customer perception; psychic distance; supply chain; sustainability; sourcing strategies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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