Dancing in the dark: Challenges for product developers to improve and communicate product sustainability

Abstract Developing more sustainable products provides an opportunity to address wasteful consumption practices. Yet, despite their best efforts to improve product sustainability, many companies admit to lacking a comprehensive sustainability strategy. Further, they have only limited insights into their consumers' expectations towards product sustainability. This manuscript presents the findings of a behavioral experiment on consumers' reactions towards companies' development efforts. We investigate how the development efforts “more sustainable materials” and “green exterior design” influence consumers' perceptions of product quality, sustainability, and aesthetics for two exemplary products. In summary, both efforts signal higher product sustainability to consumers. Yet, this may come at a cost as these changes may also signal impediments with respect to quality and aesthetics. We juxtapose our findings with signaling theory to derive implications for research and practice.