From awareness to action: modelling sustainable marketing challenges in emerging food markets

Purpose This study aims to develop a comprehensive decision-making framework to identify, localise and prioritise the key challenges hindering the implementation of sustainable marketing in the food industry within an emerging-economy context. This study addresses the persistent green attitude–behaviour gap by uncovering the causal relationships among structural, technological and consumer-related barriers to the adoption of sustainable marketing. Design/methodology/approach A multi-layer methodology is used, combining a systematic literature review (PRISMA-based), Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM) and Interval Type-2 Trapezoidal Fuzzy DEMATEL (IT2TrFN-DEMATEL). First, 24 challenges were extracted from the literature and refined through expert consensus using FDM. Subsequently, IT2TrFN-DEMATEL was applied to model the interdependencies and causal structure among the finalised challenges based on evaluations from 11 industry experts in the food sector. Findings According to the literature survey, 24 challenges were identified, of which 14 were retained following expert screening using FDM. Application of IT2TrFN-DEMATEL indicates that the most influential challenges are price sensitivity and financial pressure (84.66%), the complexity of adopting new methods and technologies (71.54%), inadequate supporting infrastructure (65.76%) and knowledge gaps (60.35%). In contrast, challenges such as difficulty in maintaining customer satisfaction, uncertainty of perceived benefits and lack of trust in green claims emerge as consequential factors. Overall, the findings of this study suggest that structural and technological constraints outweigh purely behavioural factors in shaping sustainable marketing performance. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first to integrate HFLTS-based FDM and IT2TrFN-DEMATEL to model sustainable marketing challenges in the food industry. This study offers a causal, systems-based framework that supports policymakers and managers in prioritising interventions to close the green attitude–behaviour gap in emerging economies.