Sustainability, Marketing and Communication

Dear Colleagues,

Within the last years, sustainable development has become an increasingly broad topic debated and analyzed by researchers and practitioners, namely by specialists in different fields (Bernyte, 2018), as a result of the increasingly intense development of contemporary society and its members regardless of the generation they belong to, the organizations and the technologies used (Coca et al., 2013; Dabija and Băbuț, 2019; Dabija et al., 2019). Sustainable development, as a global phenomenon, has been defined since 1987 by the Bruntland report of the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), constituting “the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. ”(WCED, 1987; Martin and Shouten, 2012). This report also provides, in addition to the definition of the concept, an image on the sustainability dimensions: economic, social and environmental, subsequently synthesized by the concept of Triple Bottom Line (Bekele et al., 2012; Baillie and Jayasinghe, 2017) or “simultaneous pursuit of economic prosperity, environmental quality, and social equity” (Elkington, 1999).

To inform society and the stakeholders about the sustainability profile of companies, there must be good and clear communication. Therefore, communication plays a fundamental role in planning or developing sustainability and sustainable strategies. In this context, it is essential to use the appropriate communication models. Sustainability communication is a relatively new concept, which takes place in different areas of society and is also a means to frame the understandings of sustainability. Sustainability communication is an essential management tool to manage stakeholders’ expectations regarding Corporate Social Responsibility (Nwagbara and Reid 2013). It is also an effective tool to measure how sustainable companies’ commitment to social and environmental issues is. Companies rely often on sustainability communication or CSR communication, as well as on various communication tools regarding the integration of their social and environmental activities. CSR communication models highlight what needs to be considered with regard to this CSR communication (Genc, 2017 2013).

The scope of this Special Issue is to approach sustainable development from a marketing and communication multidimensional, but also trans- and interdisciplinary perspective. Topics of interest for publication in this Special Issue include, but are not limited to, the following:

• application of ISO 26000;
• corporate practice of sustainable development on emerging versus developed markets;
• crowdfunding, communication and sustainable marketing;
• CSR-communication;
• CSR-Policy;
• eco-friendly transport within supply chains;
• enhancing sustainable patronage;
• ethical issues;
• importance of sustainability for organizations;
• innovation through sustainability in modern organizations;
• intercultural sustainability;
• philanthropy of organizations;
• significance of communication theory models from an organizational sustainability communication;
• solutions to reduce pollution within the logistic processes;
• sustainability and social media;
• sustainability awareness through media discourse.
• sustainability due to intercultural competence;
• sustainability in supply chain;
• sustainability practices of national versus international companies;
• sustainability reporting and audit;
• sustainability, marketing, and communication in a pandemic;
• sustainable consumer behavior;
• sustainable entrepreneurship and communication;
• sustainable knowledge management;
• sustainable orientation through the perspective of the generational approach;
• sustainable support of local producers;
• teleworking: challenges for a sustainable marketing communication;
• the future of marketing and/or communication sustainability: a holistic approach;

References

Baillie, C. and Jayasinghe, R. 2017. Green Composites - Natural and waste-based composites for a sustainable future. 2^nd Edition. Cambridge: Woodhead Publishing.

Bekele, A., Bosona, T.N. and Gebresenbet, G.L. 2012. Assessing the Sustainability of Food Retail Business: The Case of Konsum Varmland, Sweden. Journal of Service Science and Management, 5, pp.373-385. https://doi.org/10.4236/jssm.2012.54044.

Bernyte, S. 2018. Sustainability marketing communications based on consumer values and principles. Regional Formation and Development Studies, 26(3), pp.26-35. http://dx.doi.org/10.15181/rfds.v26i3.1807.

Genc, R. 2017. The Importance of Communication in Sustainability & Sustainable Strategies. Procedia Manufacturing, 8, pp.511-516. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.promfg.2017.02.065.

Nwagbara, U. and Reid, P. 2013. Corporate Social Responsibility Communication in the Age of New Media: Towards the Logic of Sustainability Communication. Review of International Comparative Management, 14(3), pp.400-414.

Coca, V., Dobrea, M. and Vasiliu, C. 2013. Towards a Sustainable Development of Retailing in Romania. Amfiteatru Economic, 15(Special Issue 7), pp.583-602.

Dabija, D.C. and Băbuț, R. 2019. Enhancing Apparel Store Patronage through Retailers’ Attributes and Sustainability. A Generational Approach. Sustainability, 11(17), 4532. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su11174532.

Dabija, D.C., Bejan, B. and Dinu, V. 2019. How Sustainability Oriented is Generation Z in Retail? A Literature Review. Transformations in Business & Economics, 18(2(47)), pp.140-155.  http://www.transformations.knf.vu.lt/47

Elkington, J. 1999. Cannibals with Forks, the Triple Bottom Line of the 21^st Century Business. Oxford: Capstone Publishing Ltd.

Martin, D. and Schouten, J. 2012. Sustainable Marketing. Boston, Columbus etc.: Prentice Hall.

WCED 1987. Our Common Future. World Commission on Environment and Development. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Prof. Dr. Dan-Cristian Dabija
Dr. Veronica Campian
Guest Editors

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