Making Green Stuff? Effects of Corporate Greenwashing on Consumers

Journal of Business and Technical Communication Jan 2018 Open Access

Making Green Stuff? Effects of Corporate Greenwashing on Consumers

Menno D. T. De Jong ; Karen M. Harkink University of Twente ; Susanne Barth University of Twente

Abstract

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).

Journal: Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published: 2018-01-01
DOI: 10.1177/1050651917729863
Open Access: OA PDF Hybrid
Topics: multimodality multilingual writers

Citation Context

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