1. Introduction
Sustainability is among the most widely used buzzwords. The large number of scientific publications dedicated to sustainability clearly shows that this topic has gained a lot of attention and value [
1]. In the literature, there are several definitions of sustainability, yet the definition of sustainability put forth by the Brundtland Commission is still among the most cited. It defines sustainability as development that meets our present needs without compromising the needs of future generations [
1]. Following this was the “Rio Declaration”, under which sustainability began to be associated with free trade, and the need to link social and economic development that did not harm the environment was emphasized. Around this time too, the three-pillar paradigm of sustainability—economic, environmental, and social—was introduced [
1]. For a long time, conversations about sustainability were mostly related to environmental issues, and did not tackle the issue as a whole concept [
2]. A literature review on sustainability in tourism reached a similar conclusion—most of the studied articles considered the environmental dimension of sustainability, while others were mentioned less frequently [
3]. Similarly, Korhonen and colleagues [
4] also state that sustainability is a very common topic in forestry and wood-related topics because of their dependence on natural resources. The reason for this may be that, historically, sustainability has been related to forestry [
5]. Sustainability should be about the well-being of future generations and about preserving natural resources [
6]. To enable this, organizations and industries must be forced to change the way they operate, and must transfer their business models towards more sustainable and circular ones. Yet another reason for change is that consumers are more educated about topics related to sustainability and climate change, are more concerned, and demand sustainable actions from suppliers [
2]. Programs have been developed to raise awareness in the general population and provide more knowledge about the environmental and sustainability issues. [
7] Additionally, one study suggests that creating advertising campaigns that increase consumers’ demand for green and sustainable energy benefit the environment, but also give psychological brand benefits [
8]. Understanding sustainability as a wider concept, and connecting the economy, society and environment, was also discussed in other studies [
9]. It was pointed out that the connection between societal and ecological sustainability is still not considered enough. Laurent [
10] in his study researched this connection, and he suggests that environmental problems are basically social problems, stemming from imbalances in power and income. The transition towards a sustainability-oriented society needs to happen with the help of institutions that promote both environmental and social development, but there also needs to be an important change in human behavior and actions. In a recent study, the connection between income inequality as a factor of economic sustainability and the ecological footprint as a factor of environmental sustainability was investigated [
9]. They found that the two pillars of sustainability are in fact connected; for example, economic growth and energy consumption positively affect the environment. However, the higher the income inequality, the higher the environmental degradation. In an empirical study performed in the USA, it was found that environmentally sustainable product attributes positively affect a company’s profitability, and that US companies successfully communicate about their products attributes to their customers. The socially sustainable products attribution surely helps in creating a reputation of being a socially responsible company [
11]. As noted by author Chung [
12], the sustainable development of the whole society can be enhanced by promoting sustainable consumption behavior in customers. This not only provides economic benefits for all, but also gives a better shape to our environment.
The climate crisis and increasing temperatures are influencing several aspects of our lives, including the food and agricultural sectors. They affect growth and plant productivity, pest infestation, and other phenomena [
13]. The threat of climate change is real, as evidenced by extreme weather events. The current trends predict that by 2100, the temperature will rise from 2.1 to 3.9 °C. However, even though in 2015 (with the Paris Agreement) countries agreed to reduce their emissions to keep global warming below 2 °C [
14], it is apparent that we are still not doing enough. It is clear that society must drastically change its way of life if we want to achieve our climate goals.
Perhaps this can be mitigated by using marketing and communication strategies appropriately, with tailored messages for specific audiences, and by using accurate channels [
15]. This has already been suggested in the past by several communication practitioners who developed models of communication, such as Lasswell’s model, wherein he defined the communication process as “who says what, in which channel, to whom, with what effect” [
16]. While much has changed about communication since then, these models remain relevant and efficient, and can serve as a good starting point. There is no lack of communication about environmental issues, climate change, and sustainability. We understand that it is a problem that concerns the whole society. However, it involves less certainty, and it rotates around a very complex issue, which is hard for most people to understand [
15]. One of the challenges with communication about climate change is the invisible cause, meaning that not seeing how we are harming the environment and not witnessing the effects directly and immediately influences people’s behavior. The distance between the cause and effect, and not clearly seeing the link between taking action to improve the environment and the positive changes, are other challenges. Spending most of our time indoors in climate-controlled buildings, uncertainty about the actual meaning of an individual’s actions, and a lack of social signaling (for example, putting a price on carbon), are the other challenges the author mentions [
15]. Taking all this into account, communication practitioners can better understand what is needed in order to improve communication strategies regarding climate change, global warming, sustainability, etc. Today, issues connected with climate change and sustainability are much more prevalent among the general public compared to in the past, but it is undoubtable that more must be done to achieve a greener society. Furthermore, the field of communication has undergone many changes related to technological developments, and the rapid growth of the internet and web-based platforms. This has affected not only human interactions in daily life [
17], but also the marketing and communication strategies of companies [
18]. Social networks have become a crucial part of companies’ marketing strategies. Developments in communication technologies and digital platforms have brought about many advantages, such as the ability to reach more people easily and create more engagement; on the other hand, this has also facilitated the spread of misinformation, with no real control over what is circulated around the web, and harmfully creating incorrect messages [
15]. To efficiently communicate about sustainability, a clear communication strategy must be developed, and the appropriate communication channel, style, and content must be identified. Additionally, it is important to ensure that messages are coherent and in line with actions taken [
19]. Clearer and simpler messages must be created, which will support the needed change in people’s behavior [
15]. The messages need to fill the gaps in knowledge between the professionals and the general public, and the urgency of these topics must be presented more persistently. To determine what kind of messages to share, you need to know your audience, and their values, beliefs, and attitudes. You have to know how to speak with your audience and where to reach them in order to be most successful. Furthermore, the message needs to be internally consistent, and fit in the mental models that help people make sense of what they perceive. Messages must get the attention of the audience and must have an important emotional impact [
15]. Companies allocating high levels of resources to the development of green products are changing people’s attitudes toward the brand via their communication strategies. It was noted that sharing less green messages is enhancing the relationship between the green products and changes in attitudes [
20]. Knowing the purpose and the audience is crucial. In the systematic literature review paper of Lähtinen et al. [
21], they concluded that there is a lack of information on how to appropriately communicate with different stakeholders in the forest sector. What is more, they found that communication channels are not used appropriately to communicate with different stakeholders. Channels are an important part of communication strategies. Deciding whether to send your message in writing or in spoken language, using mediated face-to-face communication, and talking with one person, one group or via mass communication, are important [
15]. Communication strategies are a strong tool for influencing people and creating awareness. In relation to sustainability, this is especially important, as a shift in people’s perceptions must happen in order to achieve the much-needed sustainability-oriented society. It is therefore necessary to change human actions and daily operations in all fields. Due to the rising risk of environmental issues, green marketing has developed, whereby companies are also dedicating their communication efforts to promoting green products and developing green brands. In order to be successful in the long term, they need to incorporate the concepts of green brand image, green satisfaction, and green trust [
22]. Some authors [
23] also suggest that higher education can be a helpful tool in overcoming the climate change issues, and in lowering greenhouse gas emissions. Investing in human capital, organizing courses, workshops, and conferences on this topic, and other mechanism will positively affect the final outcome of environmental quality. In this study, we investigated sustainability communication within the three-pillar paradigm of sustainability—economic, environmental, and social—in the wood furniture, textile, and car industries, which produce products for end-users. These sectors were selected based on the study of Ritchie and Roser [
24]. They suggest that the energy industry contributes the most to CO₂ emissions. As they defined it, the energy industry includes the categories of energy use in industry, in buildings, and in transportation. Energy use in industry is further divided into sub-categories; wood products (also wood furniture), emissions from manufacturing in the textiles industry, and transport equipment (such as the car industry) are in the same sub-category.
The role of the forest industry in fostering discussion about mitigating climate change is rising, as it produces substitutes for fossil-based materials with renewable and sustainable raw materials, biofuels, heat, and electricity [
4,
25]. Wood, as a renewable material, has positive environmental impacts, even if wood products (among which are included furniture), similar to other products, have an impact on the environment, from the manufacturing stage to transportation, the use of chemicals, and disposal. The energy used for their production in the manufacturing process is polluting and contributes to harmful greenhouse gas emissions [
26]. In the furniture industry, waste that is mostly composed of wood-based materials is a source of environmental pollution [
27]. The type of furniture chosen can also cause indoor pollution, which is harmful to human health [
28]. According to Xiong et al. [
29], moving towards green manufacturing in the furniture industry is the only way to be successful. The authors also state that the most important factor is green design, followed by using green materials for furniture, green manufacturing processes for production, utilizing green packaging, and employing green recycling technology. Additionally, the fashion industry has myriad sustainability impacts through the use of cheap fabrics, low wages for employees, hazardous chemicals, textile waste, and the overall promotion of fast fashion [
30]. Some companies in the sector are developing green fashion, and are adopting more sustainable business models [
31]. Excessive consumption and fast fashion have many environmentally harmful consequences. For example, in buying a vast number of clothes, more water is needed for washing them, more harmful (toxic chemicals) detergents are used, and more energy is spent on washing and drying machines [
32]. Greenwashing is another concept that has developed in the fashion industry in their efforts to be more sustainable, meaning they identify themselves as sustainable and green, while in reality, they are misusing these words [
33]. A study about the webpage sustainability communication of fashion companies showed that with more knowledge, awareness will increase, leading to sustainable consumption action [
31]. Some of the companies that were studied did provide information on the sustainability of their operations, but only involved consumers up to a certain stage. They observed that these companies did not communicate the negative aspects of fashion consumption, because these are in contrast with their company’s economic goals. This influences consumer behavior, as they continue to consume excessively. Demands on the global scale to reduce CO
2 emissions have also certainly affected the car industry. It has had to adopt changes by providing, for example, corporate social responsibility documents and sustainability reports, with which they communicate to their target audience the effects of their operations on society as a whole, and on the environment [
34,
35]. The car industry is presenting its vision, mission, strategies, objectives and initiatives in order to contribute to sustainable development. Besides reporting, they also engage with different stakeholders in a dialogue over relevant topics related to sustainability [
35]. This shows that sustainability communication has become very important, and is utilized in the car industry.
The main motivation of our study is to understand how companies of global consumer brands use online communication tools (webpage) to communicate about the sustainability of their products and beyond, and to promote this in wider society. In addition, our intent is to determine if there are any differences in the online sustainability communication of the studied sectors, especially since the wood furniture industry utilizes renewable natural materials. The current research suggests that communication regarding environmental issues, including sustainability, should be investigated in depth. Companies from the wood-working industry (including wood furniture), dealing with sustainable materials and sustainable practices, should take advantage of the fact that they use renewable materials, and engage more frequently in communication strategies, which could improve their position on the market and overall foster sustainability in society. In addition, environmental issues are very complex and hard to understand. This creates huge potential for the wood-working industry and other industries to invest in creative communication practices, to both improve and market their businesses and raise awareness of sustainable construction principles in society. This study provides insights into what kind of sustainability communication is successful for online channels. It provides important policy implications, although in recent years there have been significant developments in promoting sustainability and fighting climate change, and the results show that there is room for improvement in the wood furniture sector, in terms of environmental, social, and economic sustainability communication. This is an initial study that delivers a basis for further research in this field. The developed coding system can be further used and expanded to bigger samples and other industries.
In order to follow the main purpose of this study, we formulated the following research questions (RQ):
RQ 1—Are the representative companies from the chosen industries communicating equally about the three-dimensional concept of sustainability (environmental, social, and economic) on their webpages?
RQ 2—Are there any differences among the representative companies from the chosen industries in terms of sustainability communication?
3. Results
In total, our data set consists of 3975 observations (number of hits) regarding the three TOIs. The data can be divided by the selected companies—IKEA Group accounted for 1724 observations, H&M accounted for 1193 observations, and Volkswagen Group accounted for 1058 observations (
Table 3). Additionally, number of hits per TOI and the percentage of total codes are presented in
Table 3. The number of total times coded in different TOIs should not be compared in absolute numbers, as the lengths of the text available on the studied webpages differed. Therefore, the percentage of coding per TOI was compared. In all three companies, the most frequently coded TOI was environment. In IKEA Group and Volkswagen Group, the second most frequently coded was society, while in H&M the second most coded was economy. The data from all observations for each code are presented in the
Appendix A (
Table A1).
Some of the most used codes were:
Material use (TOI Environment) including content related to natural materials, renewable materials, reusable materials, other materials such as plastic, environmental footprint, electric vehicles, wood, material durability, long-lasting products, clean energy, green energy or energy use;
Impacts (TOI Environment) including content related to water, air, toxicity, chemicals, transportation, environmentally friendly production, life cycle assessment (LCA), climate footprint, storing carbon, environmental impact, and oceans;
Pollution (TOI Environment) including content related to global warming, climate change, lowering CO₂ emissions, greenhouse gasses, zero waste or low waste, climate-positive, zero emission, environmental or climate protection;
social impact (TOI Society) including content related to supportive activities for the society such as donations, supporting social projects, taking care of traditions, social entrepreneurs;
emotions (TOI Society) including content related to emotional value, addressing the audience by using terms such as beautiful, responsible, co-creation, or reaching the audience by appealing to the emotional component;
employment (TOI Economy) including content related to employees, health and safety standards at the workplace, education programs for employees, jobs, labor rights, fair wages, and working conditions;
business operations (TOI Economy) including content related to regulations, strategies, management, how companies operate, their brands, and leadership.
For the IKEA Group, the most commonly coded was the TOI Environment, followed by the TOI Society, and finally the TOI Economy. With respect to the TOI Environment, material use was most commonly mentioned, followed by code impacts, and finally code pollution. From the TOI Society, the most frequently used codes were social impact and emotions. In the TOI Economy, the most used code was employment.
Similarly, for Volkswagen Group, the TOI Environment was the most commonly coded, followed by the TOI Society and the TOI Economy. The most frequently used code in the TOI Environment was pollution, followed by material use and impact. As in the IKEA Group, the social impact code was the most widely used of the TOI Society. The single code that was the most frequently used in this case was business operations, from the TOI Economy.
The TOI Environment was also predominant for H&M, followed by the TOI Economy, and finally TOI Society. The most frequent single codes from TOI Environment were impacts and recycling. From TOI Society, the most frequent codes were social impacts and emotions. From the TOI Economy, the code most frequently identified was business operations, as in the case of Volkswagen Group. The second most frequently used code was employment. In the
Table 4 the most frequently used codes for each company are presented.
Codes in the TOI Environment differ among the companies, while frequently used codes in the TOI Economy and TOI Society are similar for all three companies. Regarding the TOI Environment in both the IKEA Group and Volkswagen Group, we frequently identified the code material use, while this was not as frequently seen in H&M, where we detected the code recycling, which was not as frequent in the other two companies. Furthermore, IKEA Group and H&M both often talked about impacts. In the Volkswagen Group, we detected the code pollution.
TOI Society was most frequently coded with the code social impact, followed by the code emotions in all three studied companies, and the TOI Economy was frequently coded with employment and business operations.
Examples of all codes for each company are presented in
Table 5.
In
Figure 1, we present all codes divided by TOIs for each company.
The IKEA Group, Volkswagen Group, and H&M are communicating about environmental, societal, and economic aspect of sustainability to some extent. As we can see from the presented results, the topics of interest that are mostly used when communicating about sustainability are related to environmental topics. All studied companies communicated content about greenhouse gas emission, climate change, recycling, pollution, and sustainable, renewable materials or products. The second pillar of sustainability that was mostly used in communication content was related to society, except in the case of H&M, where topics related to the economy were more common. In relation to topics about society, the companies mostly communicated about social responsibility, supporting social project and communities, caring about tradition, actual societal problems, human rights, etc. Additionally, they appealed at an emotional level. Topics related to economy were primarily related to business operations, but content related to employment was also frequently given. If we investigate the results on the single code level, we can see some more differences. For example, in the case of IKEA Group, the social impacts code was used most frequently, highlighting peoples’ perspectives and the company’s concern for providing their customers with a good quality life. They connected their content to actual topics that are important for their audiences, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and refugee crises. On the other hand, for both Volkswagen Group and H&M, the single code with the most hits was business operations. The Volkswagen Group mostly mentions topics related to digitalization, modernization, and company processes, while H&M mentions business and business practices more in general, often in connection with addressing consumer needs with their managerial practices. For example, they communicate about the foundations that they established, whereas Volkswagen Group communicated about their transition to electric vehicles, new strategies, and sustainable growth.
4. Discussion
In our study, we found that each of the global companies that were analyzed communicate about sustainability on their webpages. This means that the global companies from the three different sectors place great importance on the topic of sustainability. In relation to the RQ1 we saw that the three pillars of sustainability are not equally used in online communications. Each company included more content about environmental impact than society and economy. This result was expected based on the studied literature, concerning the environmental aspect of sustainability in general and what is historically connected to sustainability [
2,
4,
5]. Companies tend to address sustainability by changing their packaging materials, reducing waste and lowering their carbon footprint, rather than making sure their economic operations benefit the wider society. On the other hand, we have to point out that our analysis focused only on the webpage content of three subpages, e.g., homepage, about us, and sustainability. If other webpage sections were to be included in the analysis and all documents linked on the webpages (such as yearly reports, sustainable reports and special catalogues), the results could be different. However, since the objective was to compare the companies, only the selected subpages were analyzed, which we realize is a potential limitation of this study.
With reference to RQ2, the results show that all the studied companies primarily focused their communication on environmental sustainability, with content about impacts, pollution and materials used, emphasizing the use of natural materials, renewable materials, reducing the use of plastic, being eco-friendly, reducing carbon footprint, not polluting the air, and water. This can be explained again from the historical point of view, as sustainability has primarily developed in relation to environmental challenges and movements, and is connected with forestry [
1]. Some difference between communications about environmental sustainability can be noted in the case of H&M, as among the most used codes is recycling, which appears to be not as frequent for the other two companies. Additionally, a difference among the companies was noted in the second most frequently used pillar of sustainability. In the case of the IKEA Group and Volkswagen Group, this was societal sustainability, while for H&M it was economy. We noted that regarding the economic aspect of sustainability, companies provide content about business operation and employment. The economic pillar of sustainability is complex, as economic development is often connected to unsustainable actions that are focused on profits rather than on planetary ecosystems and biodiversity. Additionally, academics found that efforts have been made to reconcile economic growth with care for the environment and also human beings [
1]. The studied companies communicated on their webpages about their business operations, the implementation of regulations and strategies, and how their management and leadership aims at long-term economic goals that go beyond the interests of the company. Furthermore, they emphasized employment opportunities and how they take care of employees. We can also connect this with the social aspect of sustainability, wherein the companies emphasize the use of emotions and point out their social efforts, for example, taking care of the local community, and addressing current societal crises, such as the pandemic and refugees. Emotions are an important tool that companies use when addressing their consumers. As some authors [
4,
15] point out, creating messages with an emotional touch and strong impact is more effective. Since companies have been forced to move to online platforms and to enhance their digital presence, the code online connected to the recent global pandemic was added to our study. The analysis of the results obtained for single codes further highlights differences between the observed companies. For example, in the studied content of the IKEA Group, the social impact code from the TOI Society was used most often, and in the Volkswagen Group, it was business operations from the TOI Economy.
However, for the purpose of our study, we wanted to get an overall view and to understand in general the communication given by companies in the selected industries on topics related to sustainability. In addition, for RQ2, we can state that the overall difference in communication about sustainability among the three sectors is not very significant, indicating that these sectors are acting similarly when it comes to sustainability communication. The wood furniture industry could take on a more leading and active role in this regard, given that it operates with a natural renewable material, which has a lot of potential to contribute towards mitigating climate change. This is also being currently emphasized at the highest levels of the European Union, with strategies and initiatives to lower greenhouse gas emissions and transition towards a carbon-neutral continent. Documents such as the European Green Deal [
45] and the New European Bauhaus [
46] are only two examples of such directives that aim towards a sustainability-oriented society.
In addition to the identified limitation of the studied content from three website subpages, this study was also constrained by a few general limitations. First, the sample size consists of three representative companies from three different industries. We studied the three companies based on the described and developed criteria; however, we are aware that other companies and other industries could meet our criteria. In further studies, this methodology can be used for investigating companies from this and other industries, resulting in important findings about communication on sustainability. A second limitation is connected with the language of the studied content. For this study, we analyzed content only in English. Perhaps in future studies, content analysis can be applied and include other languages, in order to determine if there would be any major differences. This study can serve as an initial study for larger studies, including wordcount vectors of 100 and more company webpages. The different company webpages can be clustered based on their online communication strategies.
The findings of our study provide insight into what kind of communication and messages these three big and global companies are using on their webpages to target audiences. Considering the Forbes list, the companies studied are among the most globally successful, with strong brand names; therefore, following their online communication strategies is a possible path towards success. The study of the online communication of these companies suggests that focusing on messages about environmental issues, and presenting the information about material use and its impacts, is a successful communication strategy. Furthermore, messages with an emotional touch and with emphasis on company business operations could contribute to success.