MIT Sloan Management Review Article on Do Consumers See Your Business as a Force for Good?

The public’s growing concerns about environmental issues, along with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s efforts to impose fines on businesses for greenwashing, point to the potential fallout when companies engage in environmentally damaging actions. Companies such as Burger King, KFC, and McDonald’s have all been recent targets of government and investor pressure to cut plastic waste. Last year, both Kohl’s and Walmart reached settlements of $2.5 million and $3 million, respectively, for falsely claiming that dozens of rayon textile products were actually made from environmentally friendly bamboo.

When such large, visible companies issue false claims or fail to act, it results in missed opportunities, a growing performance-expectation gap, and, eventually, reputational damage among consumers. So, what makes a business a force for good when it comes to the future of our environment? To find out, Bentley University and Gallup recently conducted a survey of 5,757 Americans to assess how they feel about business and its potential to have a positive impact on society and the environment. The results of the Force for Good survey highlight areas in which businesses, small and large, are failing to meet people’s expectations — and how they can do better.

About the Author

Cynthia E. Clark, Ph.D., is a professor of management at Bentley University. She is also a coauthor of Business and Society: Ethical, Legal, and Digital Environments (Sage Publications, 2020) and the author of Giving Voice to Values in the Boardroom (Routledge, 2021).

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