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International Journal of Research in Marketing Management and Sales 2024; 6(2): 140-145
E-ISSN: 2663-3337
P-ISSN: 2663-3329
www.marketingjournal.net
IJRMMS 2024; 6(2): 140-145
Received: 02-08-2024
Accepted: 01-09-2024
Purba Parimita Sahu
M. Com, School of Commerce
Gangadhar Meher University,
Sambalpur, Odisha, India
Arjuna Kumar Maharana
Ph.D. Scholar, School of
Commerce Gangadhar Meher
University, Sambalpur,
Odisha, India
Corresponding Author:
Purba Parimita Sahu
M. Com, School of Commerce
Gangadhar Meher University,
Sambalpur, Odisha, India
Consumer preferences in the era of sustainability
marketing: Insights from a bibliometric study
Purba Parimita Sahu and Arjuna Kumar Maharana
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33545/26633329.2024.v6.i2b.186
Abstract
The purpose of the paper is to provide scholars with insightful information about consumer preferences
in the epoch of sustainability marketing by employing bibliometric analysis. Using the data obtained
from the Scopus database covering the period from 2000 to 2024, we carefully chose and analyzed 263
with the help of Biblioshiny software. Several bibliometric variables were included in our analysis,
including most relevant sources, leading nations in research productivity, annual scientific production,
and highly cited texts. Thematic analysis was conducted by generating a thematic map. Together, these
assessments give scholars and researcher a thorough grasp of the topic and new developments in the
field, enabling them to add to the growing corpus of knowledge.
Keywords: Sustainable marketing, green marketing, consumer preference
1. Introduction
In recent years, sustainability has emerged as a central focus for businesses and consumers
alike, driving shifts in marketing strategies and consumer preferences. As environmental
consciousness rises, companies are increasingly adopting sustainability marketing to meet
evolving demands for eco-friendly products and practices. Sustainability marketing
emphasizes environmental responsibility, social equity, and economic efficiency, intending
to balance profit with the planet’s well-being. This paradigm shift is not merely a trend but a
response to the urgent need for sustainable consumption patterns, reflecting consumers'
growing preference for ethical and responsible brands.
One tactic employed by marketers to achieve sustainability is green marketing (George,
2022) [2]. Sustainability marketing is the practice of promoting products, services, or brands
by emphasizing their environmental, social, and economic benefits. Its aims at aligning
marketing strategies with sustainable business practices, focusing on ethical production, eco-
friendly materials and corporate social responsibility (CSR) and aims to attract eco-
conscious consumers, build brand loyalty, and support long term environmental social
wellbeing while remaining profitable. A growing percentage of consumers in the market
have favorable opinions about corporate social responsibility, green products, and
sustainability in general. These sentiments do not, however, always result in practical green
consumption practices (Milovanov, 2015) [8].
Understanding consumer preferences in the context of sustainability is essential for
businesses aiming to stay competitive. A bibliometric analysis of sustainability marketing
research offers insights into current trends, influential publications, and key areas of interest
within the field. By analysing existing literature, this study aims to highlight how
sustainability marketing influences consumer behaviour and identify future research
directions to foster sustainable consumer engagement.
2. Prior Literature
Kumar (2023) [5] emphasized that true green marketing comprises genuine efforts towards
sustainability, transparent communication, and deep grasp of consumers’ shifting
expectations and highlighting a product’s environmental attributes, whether they relate to its
manufacture, packaging, distribution, or disposal. The findings show that associating green
marketing with health advantages, ethical consumptions, and a lower carbon footprint, many
consumers see it as a way to align their personal values with their purchasing decisions.
Therefore, even though consumers clearly prefer eco-friendly items, firms must maintain
International Journal of Research in Marketing Management and Sales http://www.marketingjournal.net
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genuine sustainable practices in order to truly appeal to their
environmental senses. Grubor & Milovanov (2017) [8]
highlighted how sustainability plays a key part in branding
theory and practice, and provide techniques for successfully
integrating green values into brand management, with a
focus on the brand equity construct, based on the findings of
relevant research and analysis. In the future, one of the key
prerequisites for a successful business will be understanding
customers, making corporate procedures and branding
green, and encouraging a wide audience to embrace
sustainable behavior.
George (2022) [2] examined the impact of consumer
behavior on green marketing. A total of 100 questionnaires
were collected from the respondents of Tamilnadu through
organized survey and also stated the need of consumers’
education regarding environmental issues. The findings
shows some of the respondents are worried about their
health, the majority believe they are environmentally
conscious. Some respondents stated that they would not be
willing to pay more if the cost of environmentally friendly
products rose in the future. As a result, consumer education
and awareness raise awareness of green products.
Rahman et al. (2017) [10] studied the way that consumers
view green values as a result of the promoters’ green
marketing initiatives and how this influences their decision
to buy sustainable, ecofriendly items. According to the
report, more marketing and brand awareness should be used
to sell and market environmentally friendly and useful
items. Marketers need to develop fresh, creative approaches
to alter consumers’ perceptions about green marketing.
Seretny & Seretny (2012) [13] discussed of sustainable
marketing and its basic significance in the evolution of
Poland marketing theory, taking into consideration recent
Poland discussions that frequently rest on a vague
understanding of the marketing process. Introduction of new
concepts as a result of the standardization of knowledge on
marketing theory brought fresh methods into the
advertisement process. Sustainable marketing is more than
just avoiding tree-cutting and delivering better and more
affordable products. This is a true useful benefit of
conducting business which affects productivity, stimulates
innovation, and promotes encourages and maintains
collaboration. Singh & Pandey (2012) [14] suggested 8 keys
to successful green marketing;(i) Being genuine, (ii)
Educating your customers, (iii) Giving your customers an
opportunity to participate (iv) Know your customer (v)
Empower consumers (vi) Be transparent (vii) Reassure the
buyer (viii) Consider your pricing. These marketing
strategies described as a direct outcome of shifts in
consumer market perceptions. Because of this, companies
are now more frequently aiming to attract environmentally
conscious customers.
Bhavana & Thiruchanuru (2018) [1] analysed a green
consumer behaviour during decision making process by
generating a gap model also described briefly how members
of Generation Z and Y who care about the environment
react to various elements that affect their purchasing
decisions, including marketing tactics, customer attributes,
price and quality impacts, advertisements, and other
elements. Prihandono et al. (2020) [9] analysed how eco-
friendly labels, green advertising, and green marketing
strategies affect consumers' decisions to buy mineral water.
The Ades brand, which fosters an eco-friendly image in
Indonesia, is discussed. Green marketing has emerged as a
popular topic across all consumer-packaged goods sectors
during previous decades. It is quite difficult for the bottled
water sector to create a unique product that would earn a
fiercely competitive market. Data were collected from 115
respondents using questionnaire and processed by
SmartPLS 3.0 and apply partial least square analysis to
examine the variable relationships.
Mancuso et al. (2021) [7] examined whether and how brand
loyalty is impacted by sustainable marketing strategies by
using the findings of a survey given to a sample of 907
Italian biscuit customers. The findings demonstrated that
customers' focus on sustainability problems (in terms of
brand loyalty) lack of sufficient information to help
consumers select a brand) did not lead to brand loyalty.
Katrandjiev (2016) [4] analysed the origins, evolution, and
relationship between eco marketing, green marketing, and
long-term advertising. Also incorporates scientific research
studies that examined the impact of marketing on the
environment. It was based on the four stage of development
(1) embryo stage (pre-1974); (2) ecological marketing
(1975-1989); (3) green marketing (1990-2000); (4)
sustainable marketing (post-2000). The fourth stage is the
“green wave” development in the marketing whose main
traits consist of: a strong focus on the future, justice and a
focus on the requirements of the population of the planet.
This work aims to make a bibliometric analysis to assist
researchers and scholars to have a comprehensive
understanding of the literature related to the field of
sustainability marketing and consumer preference.
3. Methodology
We have collected data from Scopus Database. We used the
key words - ("sustainability marketing" OR "green
marketing") AND ("consumer preferences" OR "consumer
behaviour" OR "consumer buying behaviour"). We initially
searched for the keywords in the title and abstract and
retrieved 397 documents. Next, we filtered for the years
2000–2024, reducing the count to 391 documents. We then
refined the results by selecting only the fields of Business,
Management, Accounting, Social Science, Economics,
Finance, and Energy, which left us with 311 documents. We
selected only article and book chapter that left us with 270
documents. Then we selected the English language and
finally got 263 documents. Further analysis has been done
with final 263 documents.
Figure 2 shows the number of articles published per year
from 2000 to 2024 in the field of sustainability marketing
and its impact on consumers. We can observe that, between
2000-2009, the numbers of articles per year remained
consistently low, mostly between 1 to 5 articles annually. A
gradual increase begins after 2012, showing growth trend
with occasional fluctuations. Notable spikes are seen in
years like 2019 and 2024. In 2024, there is dramatic rise,
reaching the highest count of 40 articles, showing a
significant increase in publications.
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Fig 1: Documents Selection Criteria
Source: Compiled By the Author
4. Results and Discussions
Fig 2: Annual Scientific Production
Source: Compiled By the Author
Fig 3: Most Global Cited Documents
Source: Compiled by the Author
Figure 3 shows the most cited academic documents, ranked
based on their global citations. As per the analysis each
bubble represents a document, with its size indicating the
number of citations. The most cited document is Laroche
(2001) is marked at the top with 1895 citations. Other
significant documents have citations ranging between 732
and 298, as represented by different bubble sizes. Document
titles and authors listed to the left of the bubbles, showing a
clear ranking based on citation counts.
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Fig 4: Most Relevant Sources
Source: Compiled by the Author
Figure 4 shows top 10 most relevant sources. It can be seen
that the largest bubble, corresponding to Sustainability
(Switzerland), indicates 27 documents, making it the most
relevant source. Other top source like Journal of Cleaner
Production is at the second position with 15 documents and
Marketing Intelligence and Planning with 12 documents is
at the third position. The remaining sources contribute
between 7 and 3 documents each.
Fig 5: Country Scientific Production
Source: Compiled by the Author
Figure 5 demonstrates the Country Scientific Production
where the colour code ranges from grey to deep blue. Deep
blue indicates higher scientific production, while grey
shades indicate no production. Here India is the country
with highest document i.e,160, USA is at the second
position with 85 documents, then China poses third position
with 46 documents, Malaysia and Brazil are in 4Th and 5th
position with 33 and 32 documents respectively.
Fig 6: Word Cloud
Source: Compiled by the Author
International Journal of Research in Marketing Management and Sales http://www.marketingjournal.net
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Figure 6 shows the word cloud which represent the
frequency of words, where larger words at the middle
appear more frequently and less frequently used words are
shown on the side with smaller size. By doing this we got
Marketing as the most frequent word with 45 occurrences.
Similarly, consumer behavior is second most frequent word
with 34 occurrences followed by Sustainability 18
frequency and Sustainable development 16 frequency each.
Fig 7: Thematic Map
Source: Compiled by the Author
Figure 7 shows the Thematic Map which is divided into four
quadrants based on two axes: “Development Degree
(Destiny)” and “Relevance Degree (Centrality)”. Each circle
on the map represents the thematic clusters, with larger
circles denoting more prominent themes. Top right quadrant
(Motor themes) represents topic that are highly central and
well-developed. Here, terms like ‘decision making’,
‘environmental economics’, and ‘adult’ are displayed in a
green circle. Bottom right quadrant (Basic themes) shows
well-developed but less central topics, indicating
fundamental or established themes. This area includes terms
such as ‘consumer behavior’, ‘commerce’, and ‘green
marketing’ in a blue circle. Top left Quadrants (Niche
themes) are central but less developed topics. In this section,
the map highlights terms like ‘advertising’, ‘electricity’,
‘energy resources’ in a purple circle. Bottom left quadrant
(Emerging or Declining themes) represents less central and
less developed, indicating potential emerging trends or areas
of lower importance in the context. Here we find terms like
‘environmental management’.
5. Conclusion
After completing all the analysis, we have a general
understanding of research trend, the most pertinent journals,
the relevant documents and the trend themes in the field of
Sustainability marketing or Green marketing and its impact
on consumer behavior. We noticed that the research trend is
significantly increasing day by day. From the word cloud
and thematic map, it can be concluded that researchers have
focused on the themes like marketing, consumption
behavior, sustainability, consumer behavior, green
marketing, etc. which should be continued as the driving
themes.
6. Future Research direction
Based on the word cloud and thematic map, future research
could explore consumer behaviour in green marketing,
examining factors that drive sustainable purchasing, such as
environmental attitudes and social influences. Additionally,
the link between advertising and environmental protection
invites studies on how eco-friendly campaigns shape
consumer attitudes and intentions, revealing effective
strategies for promoting sustainable brands.
Another direction involves decision-making in the green
economy, focusing on how adults weigh financial and social
trade-offs when choosing eco-conscious products.
Interdisciplinary studies on sustainable development in
commerce could bridge economic growth with sustainability
by analysing business transitions to eco-friendly models.
Regional and cultural influences, particularly across Eastern
and Western markets, also warrant exploration, as responses
to green marketing vary. These directions could enrich
understanding of consumer dynamics, sustainable business
strategies, and the behavioural impacts of environmental
issues.
7. References
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Analysis in the Decision Making Process of a Green
Consumer. J Bus Manag Soc Sci Res. 2018;7(3):50-57.
2. George AS. The Influence of Green Marketing on
Consumer Behavior in Tamil Nadu: A Study; c2022.
Available from: https://doi.org/10.48175/568
3. Grubor A, Milovanov O. Brand Strategies in the Era of
Sustainability. Interdiscip Des Complex Syst.
2017;15(1):78-88. Available from:
https://doi.org/10.7906/indecs.15.1.6
4. Katrandjiev H. Ecological Marketing, Green Marketing,
Sustainable Marketing: Synonyms or an Evolution of
Ideas? Econ Altern. 2016;1:71-82.
5. Kumar K. A Study on Perception and Preferences
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6. Laroche M, Bergeron J, Barbaro-Forleo G. Targeting
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7. Mancuso I, Natalicchio A, Panniello U, Roma P.
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response to sustainable marketing practices: An
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