What is the Green Gap?

Recently, I presented my Master´s Thesis on bridging the value-action gap, a phenomenon that sustainable brands need to understand and address to succeed.

To give it some context, my interest in this topic was sparked by my experience working in the apparel industry. Not too many years back, the future looked promising for the sustainable brands. People were eager to support local businesses, and sustainability was highly valued socially.  There was a demand for a sustainable offering, and retailers responded accordingly. I personally believed this was the direction for the future, sustainable brands would gain market share, and sustainability would become mainstream.

It didn’t quite turn out that way.

Some mainstreaming has certainly occurred, but perhaps not in the way imagined. What I´ve been experiencing for quite some time now is that interest in sustainability and the demand for sustainable offerings are declining. In a short period of time, the gap between values and action has widened. Some call it informally the green gap, in my thesis, I refer to it as the value-action gap. The point is that many people are very supportive of sustainable actions in what they say, maybe even think, but still fail to act accordingly.

Of course, we know and can relate to many reasons why this is happening. Still, as a society, we can not simply let it slide downhill.

For me, witnessing a widening gap sparked a need to take action. My strategy was to study and find out what it is that we are dealing with. I realized that the real game-changer would be understanding the human decision-making process. Because no matter the current circumstances or past, understanding the unspoken motives behind human behavior would always help navigate future changes.

Know your gaps

So, what is "the gap” actually?

Most importantly, a purchase decision includes two phases. The first is about creating a positive intention, the second is about acting on that intention by making an actual purchase. If either phase fails, a gap appears. So actually, there is no one gap, but two possible gaps.

Sticking to the metaphor, two gaps mean that we need to have two bridges in place. It might happen quite often that we tend to focus on building one bridge, meanwhile our customer might actually be struggling with the other gap.

When it comes to sustainable brands, understanding the mechanisms and the existence of these two gaps is crucial.

Why? Because the bridges for these gaps need to be fundamentally different.

In the phase of intention, altruism might be experienced and expected from the brands as well. One might support sustainable values, demonstrate their love for sustainable operations, or even question a brand's genuine motives regarding sustainability. But when it´s time to act, the setting changes, and a different set of attributes takes the lead. It is no longer about the greater good. It becomes about the personal investment of money, time, or effort, and the return expected from it.

In my research, I concluded that mastering this shift of perspective is one of the most critical factors for communicating as a sustainable brand. In the next post, I’ll take you deeper into the dilemma. 

How Can I Help Bridge the Gap?

My services are designed to help companies bridge the green gap through sustainability communication and, when needed, operational development. I work with you or your team to build a clear understanding of the stages of consumer decision-making and the psychological, including underlying, factors that significantly influence it.

A solid understanding of consumer psychology creates stronger opportunities to communicate strategically and purposefully across the entire customer journey.