Public defence with Anna Nyquist

Anna Nyquist defends her thesis “Creating, maintaining, and enhancing sustainable marketing credibility”.

Doctoral thesis: “Creating, maintaining, and enhancing sustainable marketing credibility External link, opens in new window.”
Subject: Business Studies
Research area: Politics, Economy and the Organisation of Society
Research school: The Baltic and East European Graduate School (BEEGS)
External reviewer: Jeaneth Johansson, Professor in Business Studies, Halmstad University, and Luleå University of Technology
Language: English

Abstract

This dissertation takes as its focus the question of credibility in sustainable marketing: why it is both necessary and difficult to achieve, and how it may be created, maintained, and enhanced in practice. It takes as its point of departure the growing tension between corporate sustainable marketing and stakeholder skepticism. Although sustainability has become a central part of corporate strategy, research suggests that credibility is rarely guaranteed. The purpose of this dissertation is therefore to investigate the challenges of achieving credibility in sustainable marketing and to explore the practices through which it is formed over time. It also addresses the tensions between aspirational ideals and organizational realities and is guided by the following three research questions:

1. What are the challenges in achieving credibility in sustainable marketing?
2. How is credibility created, maintained, and enhanced in practice?
3. How can a practice-based perspective on credibility in sustainable marketing advance our understanding of how organizations navigate the tensions between aspirational ideals and marketing realities?

The dissertation adopts a qualitative, practice-based approach, drawing on interviews, organizational documents, and marketing texts from multiple industries. The findings suggest that the challenges partly stem from a lack of consensus regarding the meaning of sustainability, transparency, and “truth,” as well as from a tendency in both research and practice to conceptualize credibility as a final end-state rather than as an ongoing process.

The study identifies six strategies that may support credibility work: signal design, source attributes, medium selection, sustainability integration, clarity and intelligibility, and industry leadership. In addition, two structural enablers are highlighted: regulatory compliance and technological infrastructures, such as digital twin technologies, which can enhance transparency and verifiability when meaningfully embedded into organizational routines. The dissertation contributes to several ongoing research debates. First, it reconceptualizes credibility as a dynamic, practice-based process rather than a fixed outcome. Second, it proposes an integrated conceptual framework that combines insights from existing theories with empirical findings. Third, it highlights the potential role of digital technologies as active socio-material actors in credibility work. Fourth, it deepens the understanding of the so-called “credibility gap” by showing how concepts such as “truth” and “transparency” are often interpreted and negotiated differently across contexts.

Finally, the dissertation underscores a theoretical limitation: existing theories of credibility – such as signaling theory, source credibility, and medium credibility – do not fully capture the complexity observed in practice. This also points to the need for future research to further extend knowledge about how credibility is negotiated and develops over time in sustainable marketing.