Sustainability Marketing: A Focus on Food, MARTECH, and Consumer Behavior

Dear Colleagues,

In a world of rapidly depleting economic and material resources, it is necessary to improvise and rethink existing systems to benefit the socioeconomic structures of society in the long run. Resource loss and wastage behaviors have been identified as persistent global problems for many years and global statistics show that consumer behavior is far from optimal, necessitating the promotion of urgency regarding conservation and optimal utilization (Falk et al., 2019; Gaffney et al., 2019; Loken et al., 2020).

Modern marketing has moved from just selling to creating behavioral change and helping consumers realize the benefits of change (Levine, 2019). MARTECH can promote sustainable behavior through neuromarketing, social media marketing, flashmobs, and mobile marketing, as evidenced by initiatives for reducing loss and wastage. Marketing technology (MARTECH) is defined as strategies, solutions, and technology tools that are based on user behavior analysis, utilizing user interests and creating strategic solutions to meet marketing and commercial objectives (Baltes, 2017; Billore et al., 2021). People-based measurements define how technology and marketing can collaborate to bring the right message to the right target segment, thereby enabling optimal results and rapid sustainability transformation (Elkind, 2017; Solomon and Lowrey, 2017). Thus, the MARTECH industry uses several data points to effectively leverage information and produce customizable experiences for consumers (Wittenbraker and Wirth, 2017).

In this Special Issue, we invite original manuscripts based on qualitative, quantitative, experimental, and mixed methodology approaches to investigate on how MARTECH is employed to create behavioral transformation and encourage sustainable consumer behavior. The issue of food loss and wastage is an area demanding urgent attention. For example, there was an estimated 200% increase in the amount of food waste produced between 1960 and 2000. Nearly one-third of global food is either lost or wasted, which accounts for nearly 4.4 billion tons of carbon-dioxide-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions and a loss of USD 680 billion in developed nations and USD 310 billion in developing nations, annually. Today, the digital landscape, through MARTECH, is being heavily used as a tool of innovative marketing to confirm consumer identity, transform behaviors, and promote deeper relationships with brands (Slefo, 2017). It is important to understand how marketing technology tools and interventions can be designed to generate and impact consumption behavior and behavioral transformation for rapid waste reduction. Moreover, how can MARTECH be of special value and contribution to the issue of food loss and wastage?

The use of MARTECH can be studied across various contexts and domains of marketing. We also encourage original academic manuscripts that are based on transdisciplinary lenses of exploring the implementation and efficacy of MARTECH for sustainable consumption and transformatory behavior.

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

• Consumer behavior and sustainable consumption;
• Consumer culture and sustainable consumption;
• Consumer engagement and sustainable consumption;
• Consumer brand relationships;
• Consumer experiences;
• Consumer vulnerability and sensitivity;
• Consumer well-being and health;
• Consumer decision making;
• Consumer ethics and morality;
• Consumer trust and loyalty.

Research submissions can encompass various domains of marketing studies such as digital marketing, tourism, finance, health and well-being, hospitality, and E-commerce, to name a few. The focus of submitted research should be applicable to broad audiences and should emphasize key learning outcomes and inspirations for future research agendas.  

We look forward to receiving insightful contributions.  

Dr. Soniya Billore
Prof. Dr. Tomio Kobayashi
Dr. Ou Wang
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.

• MARTECH
• consumer behavior
• sustainable consumption
• food loss and wastage
• transformatory behavior