Green supply chain decision-making considering fair concerns and consumer environmental mindset

In recent years, environmental issues have become increasingly prominent, and society has raised higher demands for the compatibility of products with the environment. The environmental awareness of both businesses and consumers is constantly increasing, prompting more and more companies to increase their investment in green products and attract consumers through advertising. This paper introduces the concept of consumer environmental awareness into the green supply chain composed of manufacturers and retailers, including consumers' own environmental mindset and their expectations for the greenness of products. By constructing a two-tier supply chain consisting of a green manufacturer, a retailer engaged in advertising, and environmentally conscious consumers, game theory is applied to study the mutual influence between manufacturer fairness (neutral or concerned), consumer environmental mindset, product greenness, consumer price sensitivity, and retailer advertising efforts, as well as their impact on the overall performance of the supply chain. The primary aim for this study's consideration of the green supply chain within the context of the consumers' environmental mindset is twofold: to discern and encapsulate the nuances of consumers' green preferences, and concurrently, to enhance the efficacy of green supply chain management practices. The study finds that: (1) As consumers' environmental mindset continue to strengthen, the greenness level, wholesale prices, retail prices, and retailer advertising efforts of green products will continue to increase to meet the growing demand for environmental protection, regardless of whether manufacturers are fairness neutral or fairness concerned. It is noteworthy that regardless of whether manufacturers consider fairness concerns, the growing consumers' environmental mindset will have a positive and beneficial impact on environmental quality; (2) With the increase in consumers' expectations of product greenness, regardless of manufacturers fairness neutral or fairness concerned, the level of products' greenness, wholesale prices, retail prices, and retailer advertising efforts of green products all decline; (3) In the context of manufacturers' fairness concerns, product greenness levels, wholesale prices, retail prices, and retailer advertising efforts are all reduced; (4) With varies in the degree of fairness concerns by manufacturers, the strength of consumer environmental mindset also leads to different trends in retail prices, manufacturer profits, and overall supply chain profits as the fairness concern coefficient increases.