Empirically – consumers see through greenwashing and drives more sustainable consumption
João M. Lopes et al, 2023 - Miguel Torga Institute of Higher Education & NECE-UBI—Research Unit in Business Sciences, University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal “The Dark Side of Green Marketing: How Greenwashing Affects Circular Consumption?” Sustainability 2023, 15, 11649. https://doi.org/10.3390/su151511649 //DH
Our analysis paints a complex picture of the relationship between greenwashing environmental concerns, sustainable information collecting, and circular consumption intention. Our findings indicate that consumers’ perception of prevalent greenwashing behavior among companies is positively associated with their circular consumption intention (H1: = 0.081, p = 0.023), which may appear counterintuitive considering the conventional wisdom that greenwashing has a negative impact on consumer attitudes and behaviors [27,51,52]. Although our findings suggest that greenwashing paradoxically stimulates environmental concerns and pro-environmental behaviors, some critics may argue that greenwashing should be exclusively seen as a deceitful business practice that only misleads consumers. The core purpose of greenwashing is to create a falsely positive image about a company’s environmental impact, which essentially is a manipulation of consumer perception. Yet, our empirical findings indicate that consumers, in response to such practices, may increase their environmental awareness and adjust their consumption patterns towards more sustainable options.