Business-to-Business Marketing of Sustainable Suppliers: How Message Framing and Evidence Credibility Shape Buyer Trust and Commitment

Authors

  • Amirhossein Nafei Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan

https://doi.org/10.48314/isti.v1i1.53

Abstract

Sustainable suppliers increasingly compete through their ability to communicate environmental and social value to organizational buyers, yet broad sustainability claims can also create skepticism and greenwashing suspicion. Existing research explains sustainable purchasing, customer value propositions, signaling, and relationship trust largely in separate streams, leaving limited guidance on how message framing and evidence credibility jointly shape business-to-business marketing outcomes. This conceptual article develops an integrative framework based on organizational buying behavior, sustainable value propositions, signaling theory, greenwashing research, business-to-business branding, and relationship marketing. The framework distinguishes environmental-only framing from integrated business-value framing and positions evidence credibility on a continuum from self-reported narrative to quantified, traceable, and independently verified proof. It proposes that integrated framing strengthens perceived sustainability value only when the supporting evidence is sufficiently credible; otherwise, claim breadth increases greenwashing suspicion. Claim credibility and perceived sustainability value jointly build supplier brand trust, which in turn supports supplier shortlisting, willingness to pay, information sharing, and relationship commitment. Buyer sustainability expertise, purchase criticality, relationship stage, and claim-performance consistency are identified as boundary conditions. Twelve propositions, a communication matrix, and a three-study validation program translate the framework into testable research. The article shows how suppliers can market sustainability as credible customer value rather than as unsupported promotional rhetoric.

Keywords:

business-to-business marketing, sustainable suppliers;, message framing;, evidence credibility; , buyer trust; , greenwashing; , relationship commitment

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Published

2024-11-29

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How to Cite

Nafei, A. (2024). Business-to-Business Marketing of Sustainable Suppliers: How Message Framing and Evidence Credibility Shape Buyer Trust and Commitment. Information Sciences and Technological Innovations, 27-42. https://doi.org/10.48314/isti.v1i1.53

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