Sustainable Luxury Marketing: A synthesis and research agenda,

Abstract

Abstract Sustainability has become a pervasive issue for the luxury sector, gaining traction with brand managers, scholars, policy-makers, the media, and academia. The purpose of this article is to examine the state of sustainable luxury research in marketing and consumer behaviour by critically reviewing and synthesizing the growing but fragmented body of scholarly work on sustainable-luxury marketing. The article critically assesses where, how, and by whom research on sustainable luxury is being conducted, and it identifies gaps for future investigation. The article reviews research published between 2007 and 2018 within major peer-reviewed English-language scholarly publications in business, marketing, ethics, fashion, food and tourism journals. The research is identified using the keywords sustainable luxury, green luxury, eco-luxury, and organic luxury. Three core themes emerge from this review: (1) consumer concerns and practices; (2) organizational concerns and practices; and (3) international and cross-cultural issues. The review confirms that research on sustainable luxury is significantly under-developed. This article provides the first critical and comprehensive assessment and categorization of the emergent literature streams on sustainable luxury. The authors argue for a broader, deeper, and more critical research agenda on the relationship between sustainability and luxury. Potential avenues for future research on sustainable luxury are proposed, with calls for theoretical and cross-cultural reflections that tackle broader systemic and institutional issues within the field.