Making Green Stuff? Effects of Corporate Greenwashing on Consumers
Open accessAbstract
The marketing success of green products has spawned the phenomenon of greenwashing, but studies on the effects of greenwashing on consumers are still limited. Using a 4 × 2 randomized experimental design, this study examines such effects by determining whether consumers respond differently to greenwashing, silent brown, vocal green, and silent green organizations selling hedonic products (perfume) or utilitarian products (detergent). The results show that consumers recognized the green claims in the greenwashing condition, which led to an environmental performance impression in between green and brown organizations but also to more negative judgments about the integrity of communication. Regarding purchase interest, greenwashing organizations performed similarly as silent brown organizations, with significantly lower scores than those of vocal green and silent green organizations. No significant effects of product type and no interaction effects were found. Overall, greenwashing has only limited benefits (perceived environmental performance), poses a major threat (perceived integrity), and has no true competitive advantage (purchase interest).
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The purchases of consumers increase only when companies demonstrate a real and genuine interest in the protection of the environment.
“The purchases of consumers increase only when the companies demonstrate a real and genuine interest in the protection of the environment [37].”
From Are You Environmentally Conscious Enough to Differentiate between Greenwashed and Sustainable Items? A Global Consumers Perspective (2020) · cites this paper as [37]
The Conclusions say that only genuine environmental interest seems to potentially increase consumer purchases, and the Discussion reports no increase in purchase interest from greenwashing. The claim overstates this tentative finding as a definite increase in actual purchases; the study measured purchase interest, not purchases. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredGreenwashing is not effectively a beneficial strategy because it does not affect the consumers' purchase intent.
“Having said that, a recent study has concluded that greenwashing is not e ectively a beneficial strategy because it does not a ect the consumers' purchase intent [37].”
From Are You Environmentally Conscious Enough to Differentiate between Greenwashed and Sustainable Items? A Global Consumers Perspective (2020) · cites this paper as [37]
Greenwashing has a positive effect on the perceived environmental performance of the organization, but a negative effect on the perceived integrity of its communication.
“The same study also found that 'greenwashing has a positive e ect on the perceived environmental performance of the organization, but a negative e ect on the perceived integrity of its communication' [37].”
From Are You Environmentally Conscious Enough to Differentiate between Greenwashed and Sustainable Items? A Global Consumers Perspective (2020) · cites this paper as [37]
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Nguyen, N. P., & Mogaji, E. (2022) · Palgrave studies of marketing in emerging economies · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-82572-0_11 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Consumers’ perception of green brand attributes and its outcomes: a sustainable perspective
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From greenwashing to brand avoidance: the roles of perceived risk, trust and negative word-of-mouth
Mohammed, A., Al‐Swidi, A. K., Al‐Hakimi, M. A., & Ferraris, A. (2025) · International Journal of Bank Marketing · doi:10.1108/ijbm-09-2024-0535 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Like It or Not: When Corporate Social Responsibility Does Not Attract Potential Applicants
Jakob, E., Steinmetz, H., Wehner, M., Engelhardt, C., & Kabst, R. (2021) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-021-04960-8 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Christis, J., & Wang, Y. (2021) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su13073981 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
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The Continuing Case for a Polycentric Approach for Coping with Climate Change
Lofthouse, J., & Herzberg, R. Q. (2023) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su15043770 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Mahmud, M., Soetanto, D. P., & Jack, S. L. (2021) · Journal of General Management · doi:10.1177/0306307021991489 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
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Natural and Organic Cosmetics: Definition and ConceptsPreprint
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Do board characteristics impact greenwashing? Moderating role of CSR committee
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Ahsan, M. J., & Khalid, M. H. (2024) · Journal of Global Responsibility · doi:10.1108/jgr-01-2023-0012 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Singh, P. K., & Chudasama, H. (2021) · Global Environmental Change · doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102349 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Perceived greenwashing and its impact on eco-friendly product purchase
Shojaei, A. S., Barbosa, B., de Oliveira, Z. M., & Coelho, A. M. R. (2024) · Tourism & Management Studies · doi:10.18089/tms.20240201 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Li, X., Li, J., He, J., Huang, Y., Liu, X., Dai, J., & Shen, Q. (2023) · Engineering Construction & Architectural Management · doi:10.1108/ecam-01-2023-0027 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Mousavi, K., Kowsari, E., Ramakrishna, S., Chinnappan, A., & Gheibi, M. (2024) · Environment Development and Sustainability · doi:10.1007/s10668-024-04508-6 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Janz, F., Jordanow, S., Heidenreich, S., & Schäfer, J. (2024) · Creativity and Innovation Management · doi:10.1111/caim.12639 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Green Claims, Green Washing and Consumer Protection in the European Union
Marcatajo, G. (2023) · Journal of Financial Crime · doi:10.1108/jfc-11-2021-0240 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Chiacchio, L. D., Vivian, B., Cegarra‐Navarro, J., & García-Pérez, A. (2024) · Environment Development and Sustainability · doi:10.1007/s10668-024-04779-z · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Jain, P., Chou, M. C., Fan, F., & Santoso, M. P. (2021) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su13126662 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Enviro-Bragging: When Influencers Should Not Be Humble about a Brand’s Sustainability
Pittman, M., & Milfeld, T. (2023) · Journal of Interactive Advertising · doi:10.1080/15252019.2023.2232781 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Institutional Investors' Site Visits and Corporate Greenwashing: Evidence From China
Chen, L., Fang, H.-X., Xiong, J., & Yang, Z. (2025) · Journal of International Financial Management and Accounting · doi:10.1111/jifm.12237 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
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Consumer Awareness of Fashion Greenwashing: Insights from Social Media Discussions
Li, M., Cavender, R., & Lee, M.-Y. (2025) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su17072982 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Simone, L. D., & Pezoa, M. (2021) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su13137228 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Bleakley, P. (2019) · Critical Criminology · doi:10.1007/s10612-019-09454-8 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
The Future We Want: Sustainable Development Goals Accomplishment with Organic Agriculture
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Greenwashing and ESG: Bibliometric analysis and future research agenda
Bhullar, P. S., Joshi, M., Sharma, S. C., Kaur, A., & Phan, D. (2025) · Pacific-Basin Finance Journal · doi:10.1016/j.pacfin.2025.102846 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Greenwashing in environmental marketing strategy in the brazilian furniture market
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Torreggiani, G., & Giacomo, M. R. D. (2022) · Journal of Cleaner Production · doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.132783 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Gerber, S., Dix, S. R., & Cash, S. B. (2024) · Business Strategy and the Environment · doi:10.1002/bse.3717 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Yang, Y., Chen, M., & Meng, H. (2024) · Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics · doi:10.1108/apjml-10-2023-1035 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Corporate hypocrisy in the context of corporate social responsibility: a literature review
Pacheco-Ortiz, D. M., Escobar-Sierra, M., & Monsalve, A. M. S. (2024) · Social Responsibility Journal · doi:10.1108/srj-10-2022-0421 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
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Institutional and Individual Effects of Greenwashing on Food Waste
Cavazos, R. L., Taylor, K., Eary, R. B., & Doty, S. (2022) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su15010221 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Should Green Products Be Advertised as Green? Exploring the Factors That Affect Ad Credibility
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A tragedy of intangible commons: Riding the socioecological wave
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Natural and Organic Cosmetics: Definition and ConceptsPreprint
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Leadership for Sustainability in Crisis Time
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Green “Under-Communication:” A Systematic Literature Review on Greenhushing
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Welfare Washing: Disseminating Disinformation in Meat Marketing
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Avoiding Corporate Greenwashing? Sustainability Silence Narratives in the Agri‐Food Industry
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An evaluation of the role of US consumer's institutional trust for food eco‐label preferences
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Reflections on Green Purchase Behaviour in the Era of COVID-19: A Conceptual Framework
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Unveiling ESG realities: Fuzzy AHP assessment of greenwashing in investor portfolios
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The role of institutional pressures in greenwashing: a two-phase study on company behavior
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- Authors
- De Jong, M. D. T., Harkink, K. M., & Barth, S.
- Affiliations
- University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands
- University of Twente (NL)
- ORCID
- Barth, Susanne
- Venue
- Journal of Business and Technical Communication
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2017-09-25
- Volume
- 32
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 77-112
- ISSN
- 0892-5720 (ISSN-L)
- 1050-6519
- 1552-4574
- PMC
- PMC6044111
- OpenAlex
- W2757956424
- Cited by
- 249
- References
- 70
- Citations by year
- 2026: 26 · 2025: 59 · 2024: 41 · 2023: 34 · 2022: 27 · 2021: 32 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 14.85
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Business and Technical Communication (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- University of Twente Research Information (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Environmental Sustainability in Business
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Sustainable Supply Chain Management
- Keywords
- greenwashing, corporate greenwashing, consumer response, environmental claims, purchase interest, hedonic products, utilitarian products, green marketing
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