Sustainable Branding Strategy and Firm Performance: The Mediating Role of Customer Engagement and the Moderating Effect of Marketing Capability
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Published in Vol. 1 No. 2 (2026) of Sustainable Management Review.
Sustainable Management Review (SMR) is a multidisciplinary, peer-reviewed international journal dedicated to advancing research on sustainable management and sustainable development across disciplines. SMR welcomes sustainability-oriented studies from diverse academic fields, including but not limited to economics and management, public administration, culture, education, sociology, communication, law, environmental studies, biology, chemistry, materials science, engineering, water resources management, and other STEM-related areas. The journal encourages scholars to examine the application, transformation, and development of sustainability principles from organizational, social, technological, ecological, and institutional perspectives, thereby providing theoretical support and practical insights for more responsible, resilient, and future-oriented models of management and development.
ISSN3106-5805 eISSN3106-5813
About the JournalAbstract
As sustainability increasingly shapes consumer preferences and corporate competition, firms are integrating environmental and social responsibility into branding strategies to enhance market performance. However, the mechanisms linking sustainable branding to firm performance remain insufficiently explored from a marketing perspective. Using panel data from publicly listed firms covering the period 2012–2023, this study employs fixed-effects regression models to examine the impact of sustainable branding strategy on firm performance, with customer engagement modeled as a mediating mechanism and marketing capability as a moderating factor. The findings indicate that sustainable branding strategy significantly improves firm performance. Customer engagement partially mediates this relationship, while marketing capability strengthens the effectiveness of branding strategies in generating performance gains. The results suggest that sustainability-oriented branding contributes to firm success when firms effectively engage customers and possess strong marketing capabilities, highlighting the strategic importance of integrating sustainability into marketing practices.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Dong Guo, Yixiao Xu, Wei Yet Tan
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