06/29/2023
By Debra Lee Surface

The Robert J. Manning School of Business, Department of Marketing, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation, invites you to attend a doctoral dissertation defense by Debra Lee Surface, on “Essays in green marketing: corporate social responsibility strategies, competitive advantage, and consumer discernment.”

Candidate Name: Debra Lee Surface
Degree: Doctoral
Defense Date: Monday, July 17, 2023
Time: 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. (EDT Time)
Location: PTB-205
Dissertation Title: Essays in green marketing: corporate social responsibility strategies, competitive advantages, and consumer discernment

For questions or for a Zoom link, please contact: debralee_surface@student.uml.edu

Committee:

  • M. Berk Talay, Ph.D., Professor of Marketing, Marketing, Department of Marketing, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation, University of Massachusetts Lowell (Co-Chair)
  • Tao Gao, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Marketing, Department of Marketing, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation, University of Massachusetts Lowell (Co-Chair)
  • Mark Yi-Cheon Yim, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Marketing, Department of Marketing, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Billur Akdeniz, Ph.D., Professor of Marketing, Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics, University of New Hampshire

Brief Abstract:
Social, political, environmental, and economic challenges are at the forefront of global society. Global warming and the intent to reduce the world's carbon footprint have brought to light the responsibility of firms to alter consumption patterns. Moreover, consumer awareness of socio-environmental challenges has become a catalyst for the prevalence of green industry. As a result, firms are increasingly seeking ways to respond (Grinstein and Nisan, 2009; Olsen et al., 2014). The current marketplace emphasizes the greenness and sustainability of new products. Often portrayed as an expression of an individual organization's identity, image, or mission, firms are paying attention more attention to green new product development (Chen, 2010; Chen & Chang, 2012). Producing less waste and conserving energy, eco-friendly, sustainable, or green products have less of an impact on the environment. It was projected that by 2012, almost a third of Fortune 500 corporations had adopted a corporate social responsibility executive position (Kiron et al., 2012; Gupta et al., 2018).

Considering this, firm action and rhetoric can impact reputation, consumer perceptions, and purchase decisions. Consequently, intrinsic and extrinsic beliefs affect outcomes relative to their relationship with the firm. Therefore, three essays investigate firm level green marketing strategies as a source for innovation, competitive advantage, firm performance, and consumer discernment in the context of the Food and Beverage industry, to connect essential variables from multiple stakeholder perspectives.

More specifically, Essay 1, Taking a stand: innovation, firm performance, and the moderating effect of board diversity, provides inquiry into the relationship between firm innovativeness and green performance, investigating the moderating relationship of board demographic and functional diversity. Essay 2, The Relationship between Eco-labeling Claims and Abnormal Stock Returns to New Product Launches: Empirical Evidence from Food and Beverage Industries, takes on the shareholder perspective, utilizing a longitudinal data set to examine the relationship between quantity and quality of eco-product labels and abnormal stock returns to new product launch. Moreover, it draws on marketing-finance literature to examine the extent to which the greenness of a new product affects the stock market returns. Finally, Essay 3 extends the findings from Essay 2, by investigating the profusion of products labeled within the eco-friendly category. Because they say so: green marketing claims and the halo effect focus on firm generated eco-label claims versus third-party certified eco-label claims, specifically those such as ‘organic’ and ‘natural’ considered by definition to be 'low quality.' This research addresses marketers' utilization of such claims to gain a competitive advantage and the contingency effects of consumer confusion.

All interested students and faculty members are invited to attend.