Digital Marketing for Behavioral Change: Encouraging Sustainable Consumer Practices to Address Environmental Issues and Support SDGs

Background and Objective: In the backdrop of increasing sensitivity towards the environment, encouraging responsible consumption is an important challenge worldwide. The current study intends to establish the relationship between the digital marketing (DM) of sustainable products and sustainable consumption and measure the moderating effect of environmental concern. Aligned with the theoretical foundations of consumer behavior and marketing effectiveness of digital technologies. The study aims to examine different characteristics of digital markeint and effectiveness, influencers, and quality of DM content can trigger consumers into adopting environmentally sustainable consumption practices. Methodology: The study employs a quantitative methodology where structured questionnaires are administered to 500 digital consumers in China exposed to sustainability marketing communications. The survey instrument applied standardized and validated scales. Thus, the survey questions were developed on a 5-point Likert scale to measure the respondents' attitudes towards the tested variables. Therefore, data analysis used Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with Partial Least Squares (PLS), which enables analysis of direct and mediating effects within the model. The measurement model examined the internal consistency of the constructs and their convergent and discriminant validity. The structural model estimated path coefficients to test the hypotheses. A mediation analysis was conducted to test whether environmental awareness significantly mediated the relationship between digital marketing strategies and sustainable consumption behavior. Results: Based on the research, it is possible to conclude that digital marketing communication strategies such as content relevance, content interest, and message association impact and modify sustainable consumption behavior and that environmentally oriented awareness is a mediating factor in this process. For the same reasons, it is expected that those e-marketing initiatives that delivered relevant, exciting, and credible content were more effective at persuading consumers to change their habits and embrace more sustainable behaviors. In addition, consumers with a higher level of environmental sensitivity indicated a stronger response to the promotion campaigns, underlining the significance of increasing people's environmental sensitization as a component of digital promotion strategies. Conclusion: The current research enhances the knowledge of digital marketing and sustainability to comprehend how brands can shift consumer behavior towards eco-friendliness using digital technologies. The findings also hold useful managerial implications for marketers aspiring to integrate their roadmap with the spirit of the SDGs by encouraging a more sustainable fan practice.