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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 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]
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“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]
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“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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Metadata
- Authors
- De Jong, M. D. T., Harkink, K. M., & Barth, S.
- Affiliations
- University of Twente (NL)
- Corresponding author
- De Jong, Menno D. T.
- 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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