Analysis of Sustainable Marketing Status for Consumer Behavior Management Using the Importance-Performance Approach in the Automotive Industry
Keywords:
Sustainable Marketing, Consumer Behavior Management, Automotive IndustryAbstract
The present study was conducted to analyze the status of sustainable marketing for managing consumer behavior in the country's automotive industry. This study employed a pragmatic approach with an inductive-deductive reasoning framework. In terms of purpose, it is an applied-developmental research, and based on data collection method and time span, it is a cross-sectional survey study. To achieve the research objective, an exploratory mixed-methods research design was utilized. The qualitative phase included marketing management professors and managers from the national automotive industry as participants. Purposeful sampling was employed, and after conducting 17 interviews, theoretical saturation was reached. The statistical population of the quantitative phase comprised managers and experts in the marketing and sales departments of the automotive industry. The sample size for gap analysis and comparison of two means from a single group was estimated at 131 individuals, and cluster-random sampling was applied. Data collection was conducted through semi-structured interviews and a researcher-developed questionnaire. Data analysis in the qualitative phase was performed using thematic analysis with Maxqda software, while in the quantitative phase, the importance-performance analysis method was applied using SPSS software. Based on the research findings, foundational factors (organizational factors, customer factors, environmental factors, sustainability infrastructure, and social responsibility), consumer behavior (sustainable consumption behavior and sustainable consumption strategy), and sustainable marketing (sustainable marketing, environmental sustainability, economic sustainability, and social sustainability) were identified as the core factors of the study. The gap analysis revealed that in the area of "sustainable consumption strategy," expectations (importance) were close to perceptions (performance). However, for constructs such as "environmental sustainability," "social responsibility," and "sustainability infrastructure," the gap was more profound.
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