The influence of greenwashing practices on brand attitude: A multidimensional consumer analysis in Germany

Daniel Bladt*, Guido van Capelleveen, Devrim Murat Yazan

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)
63 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

As a consequence of increasingly sustainability-oriented markets, greenwashing (GW) has become a global marketing problem throughout recent years. Previous studies do not differentiate between varying forms of GW when analyzing their effects on consumers' brand attitude but rather use GW as a one-dimensional condition that either exists or does not exist. This paper explores how different greenwashing practices (GWPs) influence consumers' brand attitudes. We introduce a two-dimensional typology of GWPs that differentiates between claim-type (false, vague, or hidden information) and macro-level of initiation (product and firm level), resulting in six distinct categories of GWPs. We then introduce 315 German participants to the six different GW scenarios in a survey and measure their respective brand attitudes. Our findings reveal that respondents react significantly differently to most GWPs, which implies that if we want to understand the problem of GW from the eyes of consumers, we need to differentiate between various forms of GW.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)597-625
Number of pages29
JournalBusiness strategy and the environment
Volume33
Issue number2
Early online date14 Jul 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2024

Keywords

  • UT-Hybrid-D
  • claim types
  • greenwashing
  • sustainability
  • sustainable consumption
  • brand attitude

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