Green Brand Equity And Green Satisfaction

Consumer environmentalism has been more prevalent in the last two decades while consumers are aware of the environmental problems in the world because of the impact of infamous environmental disasters and the rise of environmental protection activities. Eventually, consumers become more willing to purchase products which are more environmental friendly. Because there are more consumerswith responsible and environmental attitudes since the early 1990s,who prefer purchasing products which generate a minimum detrimental impact on the environment, the society becomes more concernedwith the environment and, in turn, companiesare forced to change their behaviors with regard tocompliance with the society’s environmental concern. The environmental pressure isimpossible to ignore, so the companies should developnew business models that can secure compliance withthe popular green trends nowadays. In recent years, green marketing is one of the emerging notions in thefield of marketing, and its concept has been widelyaccepted and applied in practice.Companies can utilizethe idea of greenmarketing to generate and to facilitateany exchange intended to satisfy customers’ environmentalneeds or wants. In addition,green marketing is a much broader concept whichencompasses all marketing activities that are developedto stimulate and to sustain consumers’ environmentalfriendly attitudes and behaviors.

Previous studies suggested companies can undertake green marketing activities to investigate consumers’green attitudes and behaviors, to identify themarket ofgreen products, to stratify the green market into differentsegments based on the consumers’ needs, todevelop green positioning strategies, and to formulate agreen marketing mix program.

Because of the more importance of green marketing inthe future, this study discussed the concept of green brand equity and proposed a research framework toexplore its positive relationships with its three drivers: green brand image, green satisfaction, and green trust.

Green Equity

Brand equity, the intangible brand property, is thehidden value inherent in a well-known brand name. Higher brand equity can enableconsumers to be willing to pay more for the same levelof quality due to the attractiveness of the nameattached to the product.

Previous studies defined brand equity from two perspectives: The first definition from the financial perspectivestresses the value of a brand to the firm; the second definition from theconsumer perspective highlights the value of a brandto the consumers. Although the classic definitionof brand equity is proposed from the added value ofthe brand endowed by its name, recent branding literaturehas expanded its definition to include a broadset of attributes that drive customer choice. Aaker (1991) and Keller (1993) explored brandequity from the consumer perspective based on consumers’memory-based brand associations. Aaker(1991) defined brand equity as ‘‘a set of brand assetsand liabilities linked to a brand, its name and symbolthat add to or subtract from the value provided by aproduct or service to a firm and to the firm’s customers.’’

In addition, Keller (1993) posited that brandequity can create the differential effect of brandknowledge on consumer response to the marketing ofa brand. Based on the above definitions, this studyproposed a novel construct, ‘‘green brand equity,’’and defined it as ‘‘a set of brand assets and liabilitiesabout green commitments and environmental concernslinked to a brand, its name and symbol that addto or subtract from the value provided by a product orservice.’’ Previous studies suggested that enhancingbrand image is beneficial for the increasing of brandequity. In addition, Biel (1992) postulated that brand equity is driven by brand image.

Green satisfaction

This study referred to Oliver (1996) and defined ‘‘green satisfaction’’ as ‘‘a pleasurablelevel of consumption-related fulfillment tosatisfy a customer’s environmental desires, sustainableexpectations, and green needs.’’ The measurement ofgreen satisfaction includes four items: (1) You arehappy about the decision to choose this brand becauseof its environmental commitments; (2) You believethat it is a right thing to purchase this brand because ofits environmental performance; (3) Overall, you areglad to buy this brand because it is environmentalfriendly; and (4) Overall, you are satisfied with thisbrand because of its environmental concern.

Green brand equity

Referring to Aaker (1991) and Keller (1993), this study defined ‘‘green brand equity’’as ‘‘a set of brand assets and liabilities about green commitments and environmental concerns linked to a brand, its name and symbol that add to or subtract from the value provided by a product or service.’’Based on the measurement of overall brand equity from Yoo et al. (2000), Yoo and Donthu (2001), and Delgado-Ballester and Munuera-Alema´n (2005), the measurement of green brand equity in this study includes four items: (1) It makes sense to buy thisbrand instead of other brands because of its environmental commitments, even if they are the same; (2)Even if another brand has the same environmental features as this brand, you would prefer to buy this brand; (3) If there is another brand’s environmental performance as good as this brand’s, you prefer to buythis brand; (4) If the environmental concern of another brand is not different from that of this brand inany way, it seems smarter to purchase this brand.