Capability development for sustainable marketing: A theoretical framework

Abstract Sustainable marketing requires firms to proactively build, create, and develop specific capabilities. Given the scant theorizing on how firms develop capabilities for sustainable marketing effectiveness, this research systematically reviews research on (i) sustainable marketing and (ii) capabilities for sustainability and sustainable marketing. Specifically, on the foundations of resource-advantage theory of competition, resource-based view (RBV), capabilities-based view (CBV), dynamic capabilities view (DCV), and research on capability building, creation, and development, we review 115 articles (out of 658 results from initial search) from marketing and management journals to develop a theoretical framework of capability development for sustainable marketing. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of the theoretical framework for sustainable marketing theory and a research agenda that also includes a call for developing adaptive marketing and market-shaping capabilities.