The Role of Green Marketing in Promoting Sustainable Consumption: Evidence from Costa Rica
DOI:
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.37075/RP.2025.5.04Keywords:
Costa Rica, Green marketing, Sustainable production and consumptionAbstract
This article examines the role of green marketing in advancing sustainable consumption, using Costa Rica as a case study. Although sustainability and corporate responsibility are widely discussed in marketing research, there remains a need to assess how green marketing campaigns translate into measurable outcomes for consumers and businesses. Drawing on secondary data from international organisations, government reports, and corporate initiatives, the study analyses three emblematic campaigns: The Costa Rican Tourism Institute’s “Discover Sustainable Costa Rica”, Banco Nacional’s “Green Loans”, and Kölbi’s “Recharge Your World with Clean Energy”. Results indicate that Costa Rica has successfully leveraged green marketing to strengthen its international reputation as a sustainability leader, foster adoption of renewable energy, and attract eco-conscious tourism. However, the absence of systematic evaluation of attitudinal and behavioural change remains a limitation. The findings offer lessons for countries seeking to align green marketing strategies with sustainable development goals, including Bulgaria, where eco-tourism campaigns could benefit from Costa Rica’s experience.References
Ajzen, I (1991). The theory of planned behaviour. Organisational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), 179-211. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-T
American Marketing Association (1975). Marketing management and strategy, American Marketing Association.
Belz, F. M., and Peattie, K (2009). Sustainability Marketing: A Global Perspective, Wiley.
CEPAL (2019). El desarrollo sostenible en Costa Rica: Avances y desafíos, Naciones Unidas. URL: https://www.cepal.org/es/publicaciones
Festinger, L (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance, Stanford University Press.
Hartmann, P., and Apaolaza-Ibáñez, V (2012). Consumer attitude and purchase intention toward green energy brands: The roles of psychological benefits and environmental concern. Journal of Business Research, 65(9), 1254-1263. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2011.11.001
INCAE Business School (2020). Evaluación de la sostenibilidad en Costa Rica, Centro Latinoamericano para la Competitividad y el Desarrollo Sostenible (CLACDS). URL: https://incae.edu
IISD. Marketing Sustainability: A Guide for Green Entrepreneurs. URL: https://www.iisd.org (accessed 2024-12-18)
Leonidou, C. N., and Katsikeas, C. S., and Morgan, N. A (2013). Greening the marketing mix: Do firms do it and does it pay off?. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 41(2), 151-170. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-012-0317-2
Ottman, J. A (2011). The new rules of green marketing: Strategies, tools, and inspiration for sustainable branding, Berrett-Koehler.
PNUD (2021). Informe sobre el desarrollo humano sostenible en Costa Rica. Costa Rica.
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) (2023). Sustainable consumption and production, United Nations. URL: https://www.unep.org
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Violena Nencheva, Mauricio González (Author)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright to their works.
All publications are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.