The Combined (Non)Impact of Self-Declared Sustainability Claims and Business Performance Ratings on Customer Intentions

Abstract

Businesses often make claims about their sustainability credentials that are not independently certified. Although these internal (i.e., originating from the business) signals are generally considered suboptimal, does their influence depend on how customers weigh them against external (i.e., originating from other sources) signals about the past performance of the business? Our research examines the separate and combined impact of self-declared sustainability claims (i.e., internal signal) and aggregated performance ratings (i.e., external signal) on customers. A scenario-based experiment showed that both, self-declared sustainability claims and performance ratings, independently increase customers’ intention to visit a hotel or restaurant. However, we found no evidence for an interaction effect – i.e., the combination of the two signals appears to have no effect on customers. To gain a deeper understanding, we conducted a qualitative study, which revealed mixed and paradoxical perceptions among customers. While the two signals are perceived to be distinct (communicating different attributes) and even dissonant (communicating opposing attributes), they are also perceived to mutually influence one another in that a high (vs. low) performance rating reflects positively on a self-declared sustainability claim, and vice versa. Subsequently, we discuss managerial strategies for communicating sustainability credentials vis-à-vis the overall performance of the business.