ABSTRACT Recent luxury research highlights the key role of sustainability in meeting consumers' expectations. Although many brands in the champagne industry adopt environmental initiatives, their effectiveness remains mixed, yielding an important literature‐based tension. Relatedly, understanding of the importance consumers attribute to the environmental actions of brands (vs. key luxury attributes of the product) also lags behind. Addressing these gaps, this research examines how the environmental actions of brands, heritage, and perceived quality influence customer satisfaction. Drawing on a sample of 790 French consumers, our structural equation modeling findings indicate that brand quality exerts the strongest positive impact on customer satisfaction, followed by brand heritage. However, the brand's environmental actions do not have a significant direct effect on customer satisfaction. Although consumer engagement positively mediates the effects of the brand's environmental actions and brand quality on customer satisfaction, it does not mediate the effect of brand heritage on customer satisfaction. Environmental concerns positively moderate these effects. Overall, this research offers novel theoretical insights and practical guidance for managers seeking to integrate authentic environmental initiatives without compromising the core identity of luxury brands.
Schill et al. (Thu,) studied this question.