Co-creation of a sustainable image on social media : the case of five food brands
Authors
Date
2017The food industry causes large environmental impacts globally. Different actors such as
governments, brands and consumers however, are actively working on creating a
sustainable society. In this study I investigate how brands and consumers co-create a sustainable image and which sustainable images they create. A multiple case study is conducted under five Dutch sustainable food brands by using content analysis of sustainability hashtags in firm- and user-generated posts generated between April 2016 and March 2017 on the social media platform Instagram. The hashtags where counted and categorized in ten sustainability categories which were defined in a test-phase using open coding principles. Major findings include that the sustainability images created by brands and their consumers can differ strongly. Both brands and consumers create most frequently sustainability hashtags related to healthy eating, lifestyle and dieting and less frequently hashtags related to environmental issues. The results do not show that brands strongly influence the user-generated sustainability hashtags with the sustainability hashtags they produce themselves on Instagram. Next to bringing newness value to the current sustainability research available, the study also offers practical implications. Namely that brands have only limited control of the sustainability image generated by their consumers on Instagram and that sustainability topics related to healthy eating,
lifestyle and dieting seem to be important for the brand’s consumers active on Instagram.
...
Keywords
Metadata
Show full item recordCollections
- Pro gradu -tutkielmat [28164]
Related items
Showing items with similar title or keywords.
-
The Role of Social Media in the Creation of Young People’s Consumer Identities
Wilska, Terhi-Anna; Holkkola, Matilda; Tuominen, Jesse (SAGE Publications, 2023)This article explores how young people construct and express their consumer identities via their consumption styles on social media. The importance of commercial content on social media, such as the postings of social media ... -
Sustainability communication on social media : a study on the most sustainable brands in Finland
Artemova, Alexandra (2020)Today’s consumers are becoming increasingly conscious about sustainability issues. For this reason, it is essentially important for companies to not only address these issues, but also transparently and authentically ... -
Perceived barriers inhibiting Finnish consumers from engaging in sustainable food purchasing
Tiainen, Noora (2023)Ruoan tuotannolla on huomattava vaikutus ilmaston muutokseen, ihmisten terveyteen sekä vallitseviin sosiaalisiin haasteisiin niin yksilö- kuin yhteisötasolla. Ruokavalioiden muuttamista on esitetty keskeisenä tekijänä ... -
Social network brand visibility (SNBV) : Conceptualization and empirical evidence
Shaikh, Aijaz A.; Glavee-Geo, Richard; Tudor, Adina-Gabriela; Zheng, Chen; Karjaluoto, Heikki (Springer International Publishing, 2018)Social media has become a new way of life that allows for real-time interaction among businesses (B2B) and consumers (P2P/C2C) as well as between business firms and consumers (B2C). Customers are increasingly accessing ... -
Understanding the Role of Social Media Content in Brand Loyalty : A Meta-Analysis of User-Generated Content Versus Firm-Generated Content
Tyrväinen, Olli; Karjaluoto, Heikki; Ukpabi, Dandison (SAGE Publications, 2023)The enormous growth of social media has increased interest in this platform among marketers and marketing academics. However, the previous literature has not provided a clear consensus regarding the influence of social ...