Supervisors: Anne Peschel & Sascha Steinmann
Discussants: Panos Mitkidis & Carsten Bergenholtz

Abstract
Packaging plays a key role in consumer decisions, with sustainability gaining increasing importance in retail (Bettels et al. 2020; Wandosell et al. 2021). While today’s consumers are concerned about sustainability, product attributes like price and quality remain more decisive (Gielens et al. 2021; Ketelsen et al. 2020). This study explores how packaging material and shape affect perceptions of sustainability and quality. Through online experiments with US consumers recruited via Prolific, we find that paper is perceived as the most sustainable material, while plastic is rated the least sustainable for both milk and cookies. Additionally, paper is seen as higher quality than plastic in both product categories. While packaging shape influences sustainability perceptions for milk, it has no significant effect on cookies, nor does it affect quality perceptions in either category. These findings provide valuable insights for retailers seeking to improve sustainable packaging strategies and communication. Further research is needed to examine how these perceptions influence purchase intentions and overall consumer acceptance of products with sustainable packaging (Granato et al. 2022).

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