Consumer Shopping Habits for Wellness and Environmentally ...

Evaluating Responsible Companies
Transparency and Authenticity: Two Overarching Dimensions of Responsibility
Consumers contextualize their interpretations of a company‗s responsibility initiatives, whether
social, economic, or environmental, regardless of how well-intended or successful those initiatives
may be, within judgments of its transparency and authenticity. Consumers want to know: ―Are a
company‘s activities transparent? Are they authentic?‖
These basic questions undergird all consumer judgments of a company‗s performance. Moreover,
consumer perceptions of a company‗s transparency and authenticity with regard to sustainability
have a larger impact in legitimating or discrediting its sustainability efforts than the actual practices
themselves. The following figure reflects this, by illustrating how transparency and authenticity frame
consumer judgments in the four zones of sustainability. The image also demonstrates that
transparency and authenticity are also closely related ideas that overlap; a company‗s authenticity
influences how transparent its
actions are and vice versa.
Transparency is evaluated by
consumers in terms of access to
its values, policies, and practices,
and the openness of
communication between a
company and its customers, as
indicated by the following points:
Easy to find information:
Background information about
the company and products
should be as available as its
marketing materials
Figure 23 – Evaluating Responsible Companies
Sources of information:
Consumers are more receptive of
information that is made
available through a variety of
internal and external channels
(e.g., advertising, product
packaging, third-party organizations)
Complete information: Information that is not just positive but also includes information less favorable
to the company or product
Truthful information: Information that obscures or contradicts other relevant, sometimes negative,
facts is considered disingenuous
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