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Third-Party Certification, Sponsorship, and Consumers’ Ecolabel Use

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Abstract

While prior ecolabel research suggests that consumers’ trust of ecolabel sponsors is associated with their purchase of ecolabeled products, we know little about how third-party certification might relate to consumer purchases when trust varies. Drawing on cognitive theory and a stratified random sample of more than 1200 consumers, we assess how third-party certification relates to consumers’ use of ecolabels across different program sponsors. We find that consumers’ trust of government and environmental NGOs to provide credible environmental information encourages consumers’ use of ecolabels sponsored by these entities, and consumers do not differentiate between certified versus uncertified ecolabels in the presence of trust. By contrast, consumers’ distrust of private business to provide credible environmental information discourages their use of business association-sponsored ecolabels. However, these ecolabels may be able to overcome consumer distrust if their sponsors certify the ecolabels using third-party auditors. These findings are important to sponsors who wish develop ecolabels that are more credible to consumers, and thus encourage more widespread ecolabel use.

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Notes

  1. The European Eco Flower is now known as the EU Ecolabel.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the Economic and Social Research Council and Social Science Research Council for funding a portion of this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Affairs, School of Sustainability, Arizona State University, 411 N. Central Ave., Suite 400, MC 3720, Phoenix, AZ, 85004, USA

    Nicole Darnall

  2. Department of Political Science, University of Alabama, 303 ten Hoor Bldg, Tuscaloosa, AL, 35487, USA

    Hyunjung Ji

  3. School of Management, Centre for Research Sustainability, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX, UK

    Diego A. Vázquez-Brust

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  1. Nicole Darnall
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Correspondence to Nicole Darnall.

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Darnall, N., Ji, H. & Vázquez-Brust, D.A. Third-Party Certification, Sponsorship, and Consumers’ Ecolabel Use. J Bus Ethics 150, 953–969 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3138-2

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