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journal article Open Access Jul 01, 2025

Setting the Sustainability Agenda: The Impact of Luxury Brands' SDG‐Related Tweets on Consumer Engagement

Rodrigo Perez‐Vega ORCID Irene Garnelo‐Gomez ORCID Katherine Baxter ORCID Wendy Histon ORCID Ilaria Mazzoli ORCID Miguel A. Sanchez‐Razo
International Journal of Consumer Studies Vol. 49 No. 4 · Wiley
View at Publisher Save 10.1111/ijcs.70098
Abstract
ABSTRACTThis study examines luxury market brands' communications related to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) on the social media platform “X,” and their impact on online consumer engagement. Our longitudinal study analyses 57,000 social media posts by 19 luxury brands (7‐year period), revealing that social and environmental sustainability communications are the most popular to elicit consumer engagement, while economic sustainability messaging lacks a similar effect. The personal luxury industry (which includes apparel, footwear, watches, jewelry, and accessories) was chosen for this study as this industry faces unique challenges and more scrutiny over its practices. The study highlights the importance of sustainability communication in branded owned media, while emphasizing the role of the brand in shaping the public agenda through the content consumers like and share. Conceptually, agenda‐setting theory is extended in this paper to cover luxury brand communications on social media. In this context, the theory is proven for some of the 17 SDGs; however, for economic agendas, extra strategic marketing practices beyond online social media communications may be required. Recommendations include prioritizing the reframing of economic sustainability communications and the continuation of the social and environmental sustainability messaging for consumer resonance.
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References
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Showing 50 of 125 references

Metrics
3
Citations
125
References
Details
Published
Jul 01, 2025
Vol/Issue
49(4)
License
View
Authors
R
Rodrigo Perez‐Vega

Henley Business School University of Reading Reading UK

I
Irene Garnelo‐Gomez

IQS School of Management Universitat Ramon Llull Barcelona Spain

K
Katherine Baxter

Liverpool Hope University Liverpool UK

W
Wendy Histon

University of Westminster London UK

I
Ilaria Mazzoli

Henley Business School University of Reading Reading UK

M
Miguel A. Sanchez‐Razo

Independent Researcher London UK

Cite This Article
Rodrigo Perez‐Vega, Irene Garnelo‐Gomez, Katherine Baxter, et al. (2025). Setting the Sustainability Agenda: The Impact of Luxury Brands' SDG‐Related Tweets on Consumer Engagement. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 49(4). https://doi.org/10.1111/ijcs.70098
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