Doing well by doing good: a quantitative investigation of the litter effect

Roper, S and Parker, C ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8072-269X (2013) Doing well by doing good: a quantitative investigation of the litter effect. Journal of Business Research, 66 (11). pp. 2262-2268. ISSN 0148-2963

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Abstract

Corporate social responsibility can prove challenging for traditional businesses as a profit-making agenda may well be in conflict with the wishes and expectations of other stakeholders. Nevertheless, if organizations can align the incentive of better business performance with beneficial outcomes on a wider social and/or environmental level, so called doing well by doing good, conflict ceases between the two aims. This paper investigates a particular global problem within the context of the fast-food industry. Discarded fast-food packaging is the fastest growing type of litter in many Western countries. The paper establishes, by using a quasi-experimental method (n = 1000), that multiple levels of a brand's evaluation are negatively affected when that brand's packaging is seen as litter. This paper also quantifies the financial impact of the litter effect on a company. © 2012 Elsevier Inc.