Greenwashing has become a common practice among brands to attract consumers, build a positive perception, and manipulate buying behaviour. However, research conducted by the IIM Lucknow faculty explores how deceptive green marketing, also known as greenwashing, can create a negative impact on the consumer trust, brand perception, and buying behaviour. Conducted in collaboration with researchers from the University of Hail, Saudi Arabia, University of Turin, Italy, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Saudi Arabia, and Institute of Management Studies Ghaziabad, India, the research has been published in the prestigious journal Business Strategy and Environment.
Unlike earlier studies conducted, which were not able to assess how it can affect consumer attitude towards a brand, the research team bridged this gap by studying the psychology of how consumers interpret and react to greenwashing. For the same, the team developed a framework using Attribution Theory and the Elaboration Likelihood Model. This framework with an emphasis on “situational involvement”, meaning the degree of personal relevance a consumer assigns to environmental issues, helped in analysing “why” and “how” people react to greenwashing.
The research team tested the developed framework on 353 consumers from the United States of America and analysed the data using structural equation modelling, a method mostly used in the social and behavioural science fields.
Key findings
* Greenwashing does not just fool people; it damages brand trust and discourages sustainable shopping
* When consumers grow sceptical about a brand exaggerating or faking green credentials, their positive feelings about the brand drop
* People with greater environmental knowledge are more likely to critically assess eco-claims made by the brands, and react more strongly