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Today’s customers don’t just buy products- they buy into what a company stands for. It is no longer just low prices or flashy marketing that target the latest trends. Stakeholders are asking harder questions: Does this company treat its workers fairly? Are they harming the environment?
In a recent study published in the Journal of Brand Management, Russell Abratt, a marketing professor at the Costello College of Business at George Mason University, tackles a key strategic challenge: how companies can move beyond shallow social and environmental messaging to meaningfully shift consumer perceptions. The research team consisted of Abratt and co-authors Emmanuel Silva Quaye of University of Witwatersrand and Nicola Kleyn of University of Pretoria.
When a brand is described as being true to themselves, holding values of fairness, a concern for society, and an
obligation to goodness, it becomes what they call a conscientious corporate brand. These are brands who are trusted to do the right thing consistently and authentically.
But trust alone is not enough. Companies want to know: Does being conscientious also deliver better business outcomes?
Building on their 2023 work, which introduced a framework for developing conscientious corporate brands, the research team now offers empirical evidence that this framework not only enhances brand trust but also leads to the response companies are hoping for—responsible branding can drive tangible value.
“Firms in order to succeed these days really need to go beyond profits,” says Abratt. “You’ve got to be ethical in whatever you do. You’ve got to be socially aware. And you’ve also got to be very, very conscientious about what you are doing.”
To further investigate Abratt’s 2023 framework and understand what changes stakeholder perceptions, the researchers conducted two experiments with South African participants. Each participant was shown a scenario involving a fictional construction company: the control group highlighted traditional business goals such as efficiency and profitability, and the experimental group emphasized ethical leadership, social impact, and environmental sustainability. The results were striking.
“We saw very clearly the differences between the control group and the experimental group,” Abratt explains. Participants viewed the purpose-driven, socially engaged version of the company as significantly more conscientious, responsible, and authentic than the version focused purely on business efficiency.
Their research identified four elements in a chronological sequence that contribute to conscientious corporate branding: organizational purpose, brand authenticity, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and ethical organizational culture. These are not separate strategies; they reinforce each other.
The first element of this sequence is organizational purpose. A company must begin by defining why it exists beyond just profits. Next is authenticity. “Authenticity leads to trust,” says Abratt. “The more authentic that an organization is perceived to be, the more positive perceptions the stakeholders have.” The paper finds that authenticity acts as a bridge that connects an organization’s purpose to stakeholders’ perceptions of conscientious corporate branding.
Next is the third element: corporate social responsibility. This must be integrated, not performative. “Developing a corporate social responsibility strategy should be part of the organization’s overall strategy,” says Abratt. “It should not be seen as greenwashing, as added on and fake.”
Lastly, an ethical organizational culture is created by top leadership through example and prioritizing ethical values across the organization.
According to Abratt, “In order for a firm to say this is our purpose beyond profits, they’ve got to have a top leadership that says these are our values. This is what we stand for. Then that needs to be typicalized throughout the organization.”
So what does this mean for business leaders? It means that building a conscientious brand is no longer just a marketing strategy—it’s a business imperative. But the real challenge lies in making sure those sustainable actions resonate with consumers to ultimately result in success. Can companies do well by doing good?
Looking ahead, Abratt and his colleagues hope to expand their research to other industries and other countries or regions to test whether their results are generalizable to other contexts.
“Brands that have a purpose beyond profit are the ones that are going to be seen by stakeholders in a more positive light. And if they are seen in a more positive light, those stakeholders, especially customers, are likely to support that particular organization,” Abratt concludes.