Received! How Acknowledgment Increases a Company’s Sustainability Image and Drives Repeat Customer Participation in Take-Back Programs

Abstract

An increasing number of companies offer take-back programs, collecting used products or materials from consumers to sustainably process them through recycling or reusing. Prior research examines how to bolster company sustainability perceptions and initially engage customers in take-back programs, but are there additional actions companies can take to enhance their sustainability image and encourage repeat customer participation? We theorize that when a company simply acknowledges customers’ participation in its take-back program, it increases customers’ emotional attachment and partnership with the company. Subsequently, customers perceive the company as more sustainable and are also more likely to participate in the company’s take-back program again. These effects are demonstrated in seven studies, including a field study with actual repeat participation. We show that the acknowledgment effect is stronger for take-back programs than for company-beneficial programs and that it operates through distinct mechanisms within the take-back context. We also find that the consumer characteristic of self-brand connection dilutes the acknowledgment effect, and the industry characteristic of greenwashing attenuates the benefits of acknowledgment, consistent with the emotional attachment and partnership mechanisms. This research provides theoretical insights into partnerships and offers substantive implications for managers as more companies launch take-back programs.