The impact of social vs environmental sustainability information disclosure on consumer choice of delivery time with varying sustainability concerns

Purpose – This paper investigates the impact of sustainability information disclosure on consumers’ choice of order-to-delivery lead-time in relation to consumers’ sustainability concern.
Design/methodology/approach – Based on two choice experiments with participants from the Netherlands (n 5 348) and the United Kingdom (n 5 1,387), the impact of sustainability information disclosure was examined in connection with consumers’ concerns for environmental and social sustainability. Information on environmental impact (carbon emission) and social impact (warehouse workers and drivers’ well-being) was considered and compared.
Findings – Disclosing sustainability impact information significantly increased consumers’ preference and choice for longer delivery times, with equivalent effects for environmental and social impact information.
Consumers’ relevant (environmental or social) sustainability concern as personality traits enhanced effects on preferences, as did priming of environmental concern.
Research limitations/implications – Future research may consider differences between product categories or e-commerce companies’ reputation in sustainability activities.
Practical implications – The findings provide opportunities for online retailers to influence consumer choice of delivery time, especially through disclosing environmental and/or social sustainability information.
Originality/value – This study fills a gap in the literature on sustainability information disclosure to actively steer consumer choice of delivery time, particularly regarding the effect of social sustainability impact information in comparison to its environmental counterpart.
Keywords Consumer behavior, Online retail, Last-mile logistics, Choice experiment, Delivery preference, Priming
Paper type Research paper