Populism and sustainable marketing practices: Insights from consumer-packaged goods manufacturers’ new product launches

Abstract

While sustainable marketing practices have traditionally been grounded in stakeholder capitalism, the rise of anti-climate-action populism presents new challenges to firms’ sustainable strategies. Drawing on resource dependence theory, this study argues that anti-climate-action populism prompts firms to reduce sustainable marketing practices, specifically the use of environmentally friendly packaging in new product launches. However, we propose that subnational formal and informal institutions, such as economic freedom and cultural tightness, attenuate this effect. To test these hypotheses, we employ a quasi-natural experimental design, using the announcement of the United States’ exit from the Paris Agreement to analyze its impact on sustainable marketing practices, based on a global sample of product launches by consumer-packaged goods manufacturers. Our difference-in-differences analysis supports these hypotheses. This study advances the understanding of the dynamic relationship between populism and subnational institutions, highlighting how different institutional pillars shape firms’ sustainable marketing strategies.