Title: Producer benefit experience: information asymmetries and value exchange processes

Authors: Gustavo Barboza; Nripendra Singh; William R. Pratt

Addresses: College of Business, Loyola University of New Orleans, 6363 St Charles Avenue, New Orleans, LA, 70118, USA ' College of Business and Information Systems, Clarion University of Pennsylvania, Clarion, PA 16214, USA ' Department of Finance, Meinders School of Business Administration, Oklahoma City University, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA

Abstract: Sophisticated and more knowledgeable consumers are becoming aware of negative externalities in production processes (Barboza, 2018). Increased consumer awareness puts pressure on companies to comply and act in a more socially responsible way, particularly as it relates to green and environmentally friendly practices. Under these considerations corporate social responsibility and development of green technologies are some of the strategies that companies are adopting to reduce the negative impact of such externalities. This study proposes the new concept of producer benefit experience (PBE) and argues that companies that educate their consumers about the externalities and utilise green practices to create value for their consumers rather than focusing on cost reduction will have higher chances of success. That is, companies that incorporate green practices into their strategy can have sustained competitive advantage, increased performance, and profitability. The uniqueness of this paper is that PBE concept is being discussed for the first time.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility; CSR; producer benefit experience; PBE; competitive advantage; endogenous consumers' preferences.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBE.2021.116595

International Journal of Business Environment, 2021 Vol.12 No.3, pp.248 - 264

Received: 30 May 2020
Accepted: 19 Oct 2020
Published online: 28 Jul 2021 *

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