As the sustainable pet food market becomes increasingly premiumized, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure has emerged as an important mechanism for communicating corporate responsibility. However, whether and how firm-level ESG disclosure translates into market value remains unclear. Drawing on signaling theory, this study examines the pathway linking ESG disclosure to price premiums through value chain signals and consumer trust and assesses the role of greenwashing risk. Methodologically, the study adopts a multi-layer empirical design that combines firm–product panel data ( N = 144) estimated with two-way fixed-effects models, cross-sectional consumer survey data ( N = 600) analyzed using structural equation modeling, and supplementary Danmu textual data for discourse-based validation. The results show that firm-level ESG disclosure does not automatically translate into stronger product-level value chain signals, indicating a translation gap between corporate disclosure and consumer-facing communication. Conversely, tangible value chain signals, such as traceability and certification, significantly enhance consumer trust. In the survey data, consumer trust strongly increases stated willingness to pay, whereas its effect on observed market price premiums is limited, with actual premiums being more strongly shaped by category positioning. Crucially, this divergence advances theoretical understanding by identifying a structural gap between perception and market outcomes, in which trust-driven valuation fails to translate fully into market pricing. Furthermore, greenwashing risk is found to reduce baseline consumer trust, although its moderating effect is not statistically significant. Overall, the study shows that ESG disclosure is market-relevant only when it translates into credible and interpretable product-level signals. These findings contribute to research on sustainable food systems by clarifying the trust-based and signal-dependent pathway through which sustainability communication acquires economic value.
Jiawen Guo (Fri,) studied this question.