Concrete claims or abstract visions? A Construal Level Theory perspective on sustainability communication and brand evaluation

Sammanfattning

As sustainability becomes an increasingly expected dimension of brand identity, the questionof how to communicate it credibly has become strategically consequential. This studyexamines how the psychological proximity of sustainability communication, in terms ofmessage appeal abstraction and temporal distance, influences consumer brand evaluation.Drawing on Construal Level Theory (CLT), a 2×2 between-subjects experiment (n = 208)was conducted in the context of the automotive industry, exposing participants toAI-generated advertisements varying in message appeal (abstract vs. concrete) and temporalframing (proximal vs. distant). Brand credibility, brand authenticity, and consumer trustserved as dependent variables, with perceived greenwashing examined as a proposedmediator.Results show that concrete message appeal consistently and significantly outperformedabstract appeal across all three dimensions of brand evaluation, with medium to large effectsizes. Temporal distance produced no significant main or interaction effects, and thehypothesized congruence effect between message abstraction and temporal framing was notsupported. Perceived greenwashing did not function as a significant mediator betweenmessage appeal and brand evaluation outcomes, although it emerged as a strong independentnegative predictor of consumer trust, credibility, and authenticity.These findings suggest that in high-involvement, high-scepticism contexts such as theautomotive sector, the specificity and verifiability of sustainability claims matter more toconsumers than temporal framing. The results contribute to CLT-based branding research byidentifying a boundary condition for construal congruence effects, and carry practicalimplications for brand managers navigating regulatory pressure for verifiable sustainabilityclaims.