“Who Is Responsible?”: Sustainability Responsibilization in U.S. Retailer Messaging

As retailers increasingly communicate sustainability initiatives through public-facing websites, these messages publicly frame who is expected to act. This qualitative content analysis examined a 50-retailer U.S. sampling frame, with 45 retailers providing usable coding records. Retailer-level codes covered dominant responsibility framing, persuasive appeals, consumer-protection references, and equity-related language. Corporate responsibility was the dominant frame for 36 retailers (80.0%), shared responsibility for eight (17.8%), and consumer responsibility for one (2.2%). Moral appeals appeared in 43 of 45 coded cases, although they did not necessarily request consumer action. Consumer-protection and equity references varied across the sample. The findings document how corporate commitments and invitations to participate are presented in retailer-controlled communications; they do not establish actual corporate performance, consumer interpretation, or a transfer of accountability.