Bridging Attitude-Behavior Gaps in SDG Cultural Products: A Stakeholder Analysis

Abstract

This study examines the attitude-behavior gap for SDG-embedded cultural and creative products in China and asks how SDG embeddedness, enterprise resource capability, policy support, and consumer identity relate to marketing performance. Using survey data from 438 firms and 1,200 consumers across 31 Chinese provinces, supplemented by 28 stakeholder interviews, we estimate a structural equation model with bootstrap mediation tests, moderation analysis, and robustness checks. Because the data are cross-sectional, all path estimates are read as conditional associations rather than causal effects. Consumer identity shows the largest standardized association with marketing performance ( β  = 0.47 after removing the overlapping recommendation item, p  < 0.001), while policy support is smaller but still significant ( β  = 0.20, p  < 0.01). The storytelling-communication moderation is significant; the over-40 subgroup moderation is not interpreted because it is statistically unstable. Descriptively, 78 % of consumers ( n  = 1,200) recognize the social value of SDG-oriented products, yet only 12 % – a subset of that 78 % – report at least one purchase in the past 12 months. Overall, the findings support a cautious stakeholder framework linking SDG embeddedness, consumer identity, policy instruments, and market outcomes, while indicating that longitudinal or experimental data are needed before stronger causal claims can be made.