Sustainable Consumption in the Digital Age: Marketing Strategies and Consumer Behavior

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue, “Sustainable Consumption in the Digital Age: Marketing Strategies and Consumer Behavior”, seeks to explore the dynamic interplay between digital marketing tools and sustainability in the context of consumer behavior. As businesses navigate an increasingly digital and environmentally conscious marketplace, the convergence of these two megatrends—digitalization and sustainability—has redefined how companies engage with consumers, shape brand perceptions, and deliver value.

Building on recent literature in digital marketing, consumer psychology, and sustainability (e.g., Alalwan et al., 2024; Al Halbusi et al., 2025), this Special Issue aims to deepen understanding of how digital tools, such as AI, social media, gamification, and traceability technologies, influence ethical consumption, brand loyalty, and customer engagement. By drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives, the Special Issue addresses critical questions around how marketing strategies can be both customer-centric and sustainability-driven.

This Special Issue invites empirical and conceptual studies that offer insights for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers seeking to promote sustainable consumer behavior and build resilient, socially responsible business models in the digital age.

Dear colleagues, you are cordially invited to submit your manuscript to the following Special Issue titled: Sustainable Consumption in the Digital Age: Marketing Strategies and Consumer Behavior.

1. Introduction

Digital marketing tools have fundamentally transformed how consumers interact with, purchase, and recommend products and services (Algharabat et al., 2020; Algharabat and Rana, 2021; Qasem, 2021). Alongside this shift, a growing consumer emphasis on environmental sustainability, ethical practices, and social responsibility has prompted many companies to integrate corporate social responsibility (CSR) and adopt sustainability-driven strategies across many industries (Alalwan et al., 2025; Nascimento and Loureiro, 2024).

The convergence of these two megatrends—digitalization and sustainability—has reshaped the core principles of contemporary marketing and consumer behavior (Al Halbusi et al., 2025; Odoom et al., 2025). Thus, a comprehensive understanding of the notion of sustainability and digital marketing is now vital for businesses aiming to align their values and strategies with the evolving expectations of socially and environmentally conscious consumers (Bulmer et al., 2024; Nascimento and Loureiro, 2024).

As consumers increasingly prioritize environmental preservation, ethical transparency, and social equity, sustainability has become a central theme in both academic discourse and strategic business planning (Alalwan et al., 2024; Kajtazi et al., 2023). Therefore, we believe that the current Special Issue is both timely and impactful in offering an interdisciplinary perspective that draws from digital marketing, consumer psychology, digital innovation, business ethics, and sustainability studies. Hence, this Special Issue addresses the call for having a sustainable environment using digital marketing tools. The current Special Issue tries to understand the linkages between suitability aspects that companies are utilizing and their strategies that will enhance users’ behavior, such as trust, satisfaction, loyalty, retention, experience, co-creation, and engagement in highly competitive digital environments (Allal-Chérif et al., 2023; Odoom et al., 2025; Azmat et al., 2023). Authors’ contributions will offer valuable insights for academics, practitioners, and policymakers alike.

2. Aim of the Special Issue

The current Special Issue aims to explore the interconnections between digital marketing strategies, sustainable consumption, and key customer-centric outcomes, such as satisfaction, loyalty, trust, attitude, engagement, experience, and co-creation. It invites scholarly work that examines the role of sustainability-oriented digital marketing in shaping consumer behavior, enhancing customer experience, and building stronger customer-brand relationships. The Special Issue seeks to present a holistic and interdisciplinary view of the evolving relationship between consumers and companies in the digital age. Emphasis will be placed on ethical, transparent, and sustainability-driven marketing approaches that not only meet consumer demands but also contribute to long-term business performance and social good.

3. Suggested Themes

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Digital Marketing Tools and Sustainable Consumer Behavior: In this theme, authors are invited to investigate how digital marketing tools influence consumer awareness, preferences, satisfaction, loyalty, experience, engagement, and behavior toward sustainable brands, products, and/or services.
• Green Branding and Online Customer Loyalty: In this theme, authors are invited to examine how eco-friendly branding affects consumer satisfaction, loyalty, engagement, retention, and long-term relationships in e-commerce settings.
• Role of Influencer and Social Media Marketing in Promoting Sustainability: In this theme, authors are requested to investigate how digital influencers shape consumer attitudes and behaviors toward sustainable fashion, food, travel, and lifestyles.
• AI, Personalization, and Ethical Consumption: In this theme, authors are invited to investigate how AI-driven tools, personalization, AR, VR, mobile apps, and online communities encourage consumer involvement in co-creating sustainability value, experience, and engagement.
• Digital Green Advertising, Trust, and Sustainability: In this theme, authors are asked to inspect how trust, transparency, and authenticity shape the effectiveness of sustainability messaging in digital environments.
• Consumer Engagement with Sustainable Online Brands: In this theme, authors are asked to analyze the impact of immersive and interactive digital experiences on consumer engagement with sustainability initiatives.
• Gamification, Sustainability, and Engagement: In this theme, authors are invited to examine how the use of interactive tools and gamification helps consumer participation in sustainable practices. Further attempts to investigate how gamification techniques can drive behavioral change, increase brand loyalty, and enhance customer satisfaction through sustainability are welcomed.
• Digital Tools, Sustainability, and Customer Relationships: In this theme, authors are trying to explore how innovations such as blockchain and smart labels influence trust, satisfaction, and long-term customer relationships.
• Customer Value Creation (Co-Creation) and Engagement in Sustainable Innovation Contexts: In this theme, authors are investigating how involving customers in sustainability initiatives enhances brand engagement and satisfaction.
• Sustainable Tourism and Hospitality in the Digital Age: In this theme, authors investigate how digital technologies, such as AR, VR, and IoT, offer sustainable alternatives and enhance customer experiences in the traveling and hospitality area.

References

• Al Halbusi, H., Al-Sulaiti, K. I., Alalwan, A. A., & Al-Busaidi, A. S. (2025). AI capability and green innovation impact on sustainable performance: Moderating role of big data and knowledge management. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 210, 123897.
• Alalwan, A. A., Algharabat, R., Abu El Samen, A., Albanna, H., & Al-Okaily, M. (2025). Examining the impact of anthropomorphism and AI-chatbots service quality on online customer flow experience–exploring the moderating role of telepresence. Journal of Consumer Marketing.
• Alalwan, A. A., Baabdullah, A. M., Dwivedi, Y. K., Al-Sulaiti, K. I., Khoualdi, K., & Albanna, H. (2024). Utilization of green Internet of things (GIoT) applications towards sustainable performance: the antecedents and consequences of carbon footprint. Journal of Cleaner Production, 467, 142956.
• Algharabat, R. S., & Rana, N. P. (2021). Social commerce in emerging markets and its impact on online community engagement. Information Systems Frontiers, 23, 1499-1520.
• Algharabat, R., Rana, N. P., Alalwan, A. A., Baabdullah, A., & Gupta, A. (2020). Investigating the antecedents of customer brand engagement and consumer-based brand equity in social media. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 53, 101767.
• Allal-Chérif, O., Climent, J. C., & Berenguer, K. J. U. (2023). Born to be sustainable: How to combine strategic disruption, open innovation, and process digitization to create a sustainable business. Journal of Business Research, 154, 113379.
• Azmat, F., Lim, W. M., Moyeen, A., Voola, R., & Gupta, G. (2023). Convergence of business, innovation, and sustainability at the tipping point of the sustainable development goals. Journal of Business Research, 167, 114170.
• Bulmer, S., Palakshappa, N., Dodds, S., & Harper, S. (2024). Sustainability, brand authenticity and Instagram messaging. Journal of Business Research, 175, 114547.
• Kajtazi, K., Rexhepi, G., Sharif, A., & Ozturk, I. (2023). Business model innovation and its impact on corporate sustainability. Journal of Business Research, 166, 114082.
• Nascimento, J., & Loureiro, S. M. C. (2024). Mapping the sustainability branding field: emerging trends and future directions. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 33(2), 234-257.
• Odoom, R., Odoom, P. T., Amu, P. Y., & Adams, M. (2025). Sustainable digital marketing practices and consumer brand engagement–a brand reputation mediation investigation. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 1-17.
• Qasem, Z. (2021). The effect of positive TRI traits on centennials adoption of try-on technology in the context of E-fashion retailing. International Journal of Information Management, 56, 102254.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Raed Salah Algharabat
Dr. Ali Abdallah Al-Alwan
Dr. Zainah Qasem
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• sustainable consumption
• digital marketing
• consumer behavior
• green branding
• customer engagement
• ethical consumption
• AI and personalization
• social media and influencer marketing
• digital innovation and traceability
• customer loyalty and experience
• digital marketing strategies