عملکردهای بازاریابی سبز در ایجاد تصویر شرکت های بزرگ در مجموعه خرده فروشی

This study explores the relationship among green marketing, corporate image, and purchase intentions in the retail setting from a consumer perspective. A total of 389 usable questionnaires are obtained from female consumers who are major customer at the selected retailer (e.g., department stores) in Seoul, Korea. Data analysis was conducted using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling via LISREL 8.8. Findings confirm that corporate images consist of three factors: social responsibility, product image, and corporate reputation. In an estimated model, the green marketing has a direct effect on the social responsibility and product image. In particular, the factor of social responsibility plays an important role as mediator in the effect of green marketing on product or corporate reputation. Of the three factors of corporate image, product image and corporate reputation have a direct effect on purchase intentions, whereas social responsibility has an indirect effect on purchase intentions in the retail setting. This study discusses managerial implications for a strategic marketing performance through building corporate images on a basis of green marketing.

Today, the world challenged by the disrupting ecosystem concerns about how to utilize environmental and natural resource for accelerating industries with “green” engine. Accordingly, consumers become more socially responsible to the environment, which leads to socially responsible consumption, such as saving energy, buying eco-labeled products, sorting waste or recycling (Anonymous, 2010b, Haanpää, 2007 and Hartmann and Apaolaza-Ibáñez, 2009). As more businesses trade in foreign countries, they see the need to establish their reputation as good citizens in engaged countries (Chapple & Moon, 2005). Further, the increase in global business watchdogs (e.g., NGOs and ethical investment firms) and in standards of business practices has forced companies to be more involved in CSR in the global marketplace (Chapple & Moon, 2005). Likewise, Korea in Asia is one of the leaders taking the initiative and positioning to capitalize on a shift in policy and growing consumer awareness for green consumption (“Green purchases”, 2009). Particularly, Korean government with vision of “green growth” pays a special attention to environmental sustainability, such as energy saving, green or eco-friendly consumption. Given this situation in the market, more companies than ever before, including department stores such as Lotte, Shinsegae, and Hyundae endeavor to initiate their strategic actions in socially responsible manner with emphasis on the eco-friendly products to facilitate green consumption (Anonymous, 2010a and Lotte Department Store, 2009). The pervasive belief among consumers that green consumption is an imperative in everyday life as well as global communities reflects this trend. Therefore, a consumer's perception of green marketing becomes more critical to sustain a corporate image in a favorable way than that of traditional marketing in the consumer market. Despite the popularity of green marketing as strategic initiative in Korea, little is known about its impact on consumers' reactions in the retail setting. Several researchers and practitioners in Korea focus mainly on economic condition (e.g., GDP) and its relation to energy efficiency, and industrial CO2 emissions in manufacturers (Jin, 2007, Kim, 2002, Kim and Seol, 2007, Lim et al., 2009, Oh and Lee, 2004 and Park and Heo, 2007). They demonstrate that economic growth supports industrial sustainability practice on a macro basis, implying that an energy conservation issue is feasible without compressing economic growth in the long run. Otherwise, many retailers given green marketing are motivated to act in a socially responsible manner not only for their ethnical obligations but also for marketing performance resulting from consumer response to corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in Korea. Therefore, marketers need to understand the function of consumer's perceived effectiveness in mapping strategic marketing in the retail venue. From a consumer perspective, one stream of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in literatures and in practices is an understanding of the function of consumers' awareness of green marketing, in which the marketing theme affects corporate identity associated with CSR, and in turn buying products or the intentions of using the product (Rios et al., 2006, Schwepker and Cornwell, 1991, Wan and Schell, 2007 and Yoon and Suh, 2003). Identifying consumers with different sensitivity to environmental matters is argued for building strategic marketing performance (Anderson and Cunningham, 1972, do Paço et al., 2009 and Ha, 1999); subsequent research studies more empirically approaching to understand the value of green marketing and its impact on consumer's perceptual and behavioral disposition toward a retailer, in turn leading to retail sales (Berens et al., 2005, Miles and Covin, 2000 and Wan and Schell, 2007). As perceptual focus on retailer's green marketing, this study explores how green marketing can build corporate image from a consumer's perspective in the selected country (e.g., Korea). Specifically, objectives of this study are to identify underlying dimensions of corporate image as perceived by consumers and to estimate structural relationship among the awareness of green marketing, corporate image, and purchase intention in the retail setting. This study can help retailers map a positioning strategy on green business way to promote corporate identity and culture. Also, this study provides an opportunity to identify the potential success applications into cause-related marketing for socially responsible program at the entry level in the global marketplace.

n exploratory factor analysis using principal components factor analysis with varimax rotation is employed to identify underlying dimensions of corporate image. The 10 items result in three factors with eigenvalues of 1.0 or higher, accounting for 70.99% of the total variance in corporate images. A confirmatory factor analysis is conducted to verify the factor structure of corporate image derived from the exploratory factor analysis. The result revealed that χ2 value is 98.37 with 24 degree of freedom. Alternative fit indexes are within the acceptable range (GFI = .94, AGFI = .88, CFI = .97, RMR = .04). The factor loadings of those indicators range from .70 to .84, which are all significant (p < .001), and Cronbach's alpha of the factors are reliable, ranging from .74 to .81. Accordingly, the three proposed factors of corporate image are valid for further analysis. For the department store, corporate image as Korean consumers perceive consists of three factors: social responsibility, product image, and corporate reputation. The first factor, “social responsibility,” consists of four items regarding socially responsible activities for developing national or community economy, environmental protection, and ethical business. The second factor, “product image,” includes three items related to product quality or satisfaction. The third factor, “corporate reputation,” contains two items regarding corporate overall image with traditional reputation and global competitiveness.