Greenwashing and Consumer Perceptions of Brands: The Moderating Role of Culture

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Greenwashing and Consumer Perceptions of Brands:

The Moderating Role of Culture

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DISSERTATION SUBMITTED FOR THE DOUBLE DEGREE OF

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DVANCED

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NTERNATIONAL

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USINESS

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ANAGEMENT AND

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ARKETING

UNIVERSITY

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GRONINGEN

NEWCASTLE

UNIVERSITY

BUSINESS

SCHOOL

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Abstract

The growth in greenwashing practices had led to an increased awareness among consumers (TerraChoice, 2009). Various studies have examined the effects of greenwashing on consumer perceptions, but

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-Acknowledgements-

I would like to express my appreciation to everyone who has supported me throughout my academic career.

First of all, my parents who showed an endless amount of love and who always encouraged me to try the best I could, but also understood my best is all I could do.

Secondly, I would like to express my gratitude to my dissertation supervisors Dr. de Vries and Dr. Schoefer for the great amount of patience and understanding they showed and the guidance they provided. Thanks to them, I could always find the confidence to continue my

research and eventually complete it.

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Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the environmental issues plaguing their planet and are consequently wanting to take better care of it. The demand for sustainable “green” products has increased and manufacturers and marketers are trying to meet it. Green advertising has increased almost tenfold in the last 20 years and has nearly tripled since 2006 (TerraChoice, 2009).

Simultaneously, greenwashing has become a common practice in today’s business environment. The term has been in use for quite a while, combining the words “green” and “brainwashing” to indicate the practice of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a

company or the environmental benefits of a product or service (Delmas & Burbano, 2011). Consumers rely on advertising and communication from organisations to make their purchasing decisions but are easily misled by environmental claims that are ambiguous or deceptive (Chen and Chang, 2013). When these deceptive practices are revealed, big scandals are the

consequence, with one of the more recent ones being the Volkswagen emission scandal. In 2015, the second biggest car-manufacturer in the world admitted to using software designed to give false readings in emissions tests, resulting in an increased scepticism towards the automotive industry’s environmental claims (Majláth, 2016).

Greenwashing and its effects on consumer perceptions has been extensively studied in

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Many other studies find that consumers are easily convinced by green claims (Khandelwal, Sharma & Jain, 2019; Parguel, Benoit-Moreau & Russell, 2015; Spack et al., 2012; Stokes, 2017). Similarly to Newell, Goldsmith and Banzhaf (1998) various other studies have shown that as soon as greenwashing practices are revealed, it negatively affects a consumer’s perception of that brand (Chen and Chang, 2013; Chen, Lin, and Chang, 2014; Khandelwal, Sharma & Jain, 2019; Stokes, 2007). Additionally, other research made the observation that even if consumers knew of the possibility of misleading green claims, the brand would still create a more

favourable image by communicating their concern about environmental issues, genuine or not (De Jong, Harkink & Barth, 2018).

Many of the previously discussed studies were set in a singular country. Nyilasy, Gangadharbatla and Paladino (2014) targeted a random group of US students, while De Jong, Harkink and Barth (2018) used the same approach with Dutch students. Khandelwal, Sharma, and Jain (2019) sampled a group of individuals in Delhi NCR for their study. However, when examining recent literature on the effect of culture on consumer behaviour, culture does seem to be a variable that should be considered when analysing the effect of greenwashing on consumer perceptions. Kire and Rajkumar (2017) state that how consumers perceive product features is largely dependent on their cultural backgrounds. When products feature misleading green claims and this deception is revealed to the consumers, it might influence their overall perception of the product and,

indirectly, the brand. Additionally, it could be argued that differing cultures define and identify controversial industries and practices in their own way based on their values (Oh, Bae & Kim, 2017). Therefore, there is a possibility that culture could influence how consumers perceive a brand participating in greenwashing, but previous research has not yet examined this potential effect.

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Greenwashing and Consumer Perceptions of Brands. In addition, the findings could be used to adapt cross-cultural communication of environmental practices from organisations towards consumers to try improving consumer perceptions their brand. To achieve a cross-cultural setting, the study will aim to include respondents from various cultural backgrounds in the hope of collecting data on varying cultural values.

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2. Literature Review 2.1 Greenwashing

The differing perspectives from academic researchers, industrials, and consumers complicate the creation of a clear definition for a green product. After Durif, Boivin and Julien (2010) codified 35 definitions, they formulated an integrative definition for the term. As stated by them, “a green product is a product whose design and/or attributes (and/or production and/or strategy) uses recycling (renewable/toxic-free/biodegradable) resources and which improves environmental impact or reduces environmental toxic damage throughout its entire life cycle" (Durif, Boivin & Julien, 2010, p. 27). As a result of their consumer survey, it was shown that consumers find the more tangible attributes of a green product of a higher importance. This includes the product being non-toxic for nature, good for health, socially responsible, and good for the planet.

According to Delmas and Burbano (2011), greenwashing can happen on two levels within a company. Firm-level greenwashing takes place when a company misleads its consumers about its environmental practices, while product-level greenwashing misleads the consumers regarding the environmental benefits of a product or service. Overall, based on the typology of

environmental strategies by Delmas and Burbano (2011), a greenwashing firm participates in two types of behaviour, with the first being poor environmental performance, which

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De Jong, Harkink, and Barth (2018) criticise this typology and argue that it might be a

simplification of reality. In practice, an organisation’s environmental performance might not be clearly good or bad. Its environmental performance can involve many aspects, as the earlier distinction between firm-level and product-level greenwashing by Delmas and Burbano (2011) portrays. An organisation may perform well regarding their consideration of the environment on one aspect, while showing little consideration with a different practice. Another possibility is that they might be truthful about its environmental performance on one aspect, while lying about another.

Several studies have made an effort to identify and classify common greenwashing practices. Carlson, Grove and Kangun (1993) identified four types of greenwashing practices and examined their frequencies. The first type they categorised was vague or ambiguous claims which had a broad or unclear meaning. Omission was identified as the second type as

advertisements often omitted information that would be necessary to judge the truthfulness of environmental claims. The third type included any claims that were completely fabricated. Lastly, they added a type that could concern any combination of the above three types. However, this seems to be a rather rough categorisation which could be explained by the somewhat limited research into greenwashing at the time. The study does not go much into detail about more specific issues in greenwashing and how consumers can judge environmental claims based on this categorisation.

Both greenwashing practices and research towards it have developed since then. In more contemporary research, Terrachoice, a North American environmental marketing consulting firm, established the seven sins of greenwashing in an attempt to help organisations and consumers identify greenwashing practices. In their 2009 report, they found 98 per cent of the 2,219 products surveyed, each one making some form of environmental claim, in The United States and Canada committed at least one of these seven sins (see Figure 2).

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is a sustainably harvested forest. However, other environmental issues, such as greenhouse gas emissions or energy, that could be equally or more important in its production, are completely disregarded. Secondly, the sin of no proof was established after environmental claims could often not be substantiated by easily accessible supporting information or third-party certification. Brands might claim their products to contain various percentages of recycled material without providing any evidence. Thirdly, the sin of vagueness takes form in poorly defined claims that will easily be misunderstood by the consumer. Products containing arsenic or mercury could theoretically be categorised as all-natural, despite being poisonous and definitely not “green”. Fourthly, the sin of irrelevance is realised in claims that are truthful but irrelevant to consumers seeking environmentally preferable products. Brands will for instance claim their products to be free of an already illegal component. Fifthly, the sin of the lesser of two evils is committed by making claims that may be true within the product category but distracts from the greater

environmental impacts the same product has. Organic cigarettes are a perfect example of this sin. The sixth sin of fibbing is committed by simply making false environmental claims, while the seventh sin of worshiping false labels involves exploiting the consumers’ demand for third-party certifications by using fake environmental labels or endorsements.

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Terrachoice’s study (2009, as well as the study by Carlson, Grove and Kangun (1993), might also support the argument of De Jong, Harkink, and Barth (2018) that the typology of

environmental strategies by Delmas and Burbano (2011) is too simplified. While some firms only commit one of the sins of greenwashing, others might commit multiple simultaneously. Therefore, the categorisation of environmental strategies could be considered more continuous than categorical, as some firms might commit fewer sins than others.

2.2 Consumer Perceptions of Brands

Various studies have been conducted on the effect of greenwashing on consumer perceptions. A frequent distinction is placed on the differences in the effects of undetected and perceived greenwashing. Khandelwal, Sharma, and Jain (2019) argue that buyers often do not have enough information about products advertised with misleading claims. Nevertheless, they make their purchases based on advertisements and market positioning. Consumers do have some

understanding of greenwashing tactics but the ‘green’ suggestive labelling, images, words, and packaging, still mislead them. This results in the occurrence of uninformed choices and

successful greenwashing. Once false claims are revealed, however, the risk of tarnishing the brand image and losing consumer trust, increases. Stokes (2007) also showed that consumers’ attitudes towards green advertising remained positive if they did not detect any deception.

Parguel, Benoît -Moreau and Russell (2015) found a positive effect on consumers’ brand-image perceptions when using nature-evoking elements in advertisements. Furthermore, Spack, Board, Crighton, Kostka, and Ivory (2012) confirmed that consumers’ buying intention was positively affected by the presence of green cues, irrespective of their format, modality or quality.

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communicate an interest in environmental issues, do create a more favourable image than those that completely ignore any environmental issues.

The results of research into the effect of green claims and greenwashing on consumer

perceptions of brands seem to differ a lot. On the one hand, many studies find that consumers are relatively easily misled by green claims in advertisements (Khandelwal, Sharma & Jain, 2019; Parguel, Benoit-Moreau & Russell, 2015; Spack et al., 2012; Stokes, 2017). On the other hand, as soon as the consumers became aware of the greenwashing practices, their perception of the brand was negatively affected (Chen and Chang, 2013; Chen, Lin, and Chang, 2014;

Khandelwal, Sharma & Jain, 2019; Newell, Goldsmith and Banzhaf, 1998; Stokes, 2007). There was also proof found that even if consumers knew of the possibility of misleading green claims, the brand would still create a more favourable image by communicating their environmental interest (De Jong, Harkink & Barth, 2018).

All studies utilising a variable similar to Consumer Perceptions of Brands in their research model, understand that this variable is too broad to be easily measured. Therefore, many studies break this construct down into several other variables. Newell, Goldsmith and Banzhaf (1998) found that perceived credibility of the brand will diminish when consumers believe they were intentionally misled. They also found a significant negative relationship between greenwashing and attitude towards the brand. De Jong, Harkink and Barth (2018) break down their variable of perceived integrity by measuring the consumer perception of honesty in communication by organisations. Similarly, Khandelwal, Sharma and Jain (2019) find that consumers believe the most common reason for brands to participate in greenwashing is the brand credibility.

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2.3 Culture’s Influence on Consumer Perceptions

The effect of culture on consumer behaviour has been a research topic for a while and it has become clear that culture’s influence should not be taken lightly. Kire and Rajkumar (2017, p. 1184) argue that “Consumers’ perceptions about product features: packages, size, shape, colour, material and branding depend largely on their cultural backgrounds and should therefore be the cornerstone of all the company’s thoughts. People are changing from time to time, so do their tastes and preferences. Identifying those is the first step towards achieving success and the rest depends on the performance of the product.” As consumer perceptions of greenwashing are largely based on earlier mentioned product features, especially in product-level greenwashing, there is a probability that culture also influences consumer perceptions of greenwashing.

Many of the earlier mentioned studies have been conducted in an environment with a largely singular cultural group or have not taken culture into account as a variable. Khandelwal, Sharma and Jain (2019) targeted a group of individuals in Delhi NCR, while Nyilasy, Gangadharbatla and Paladino (2014) and De Jong, Harkink and Barth (2018) selected a random group of students from the US and The Netherlands respectively. It can be argued that students are possibly a diversified group regarding culture, as exchange students might be included, but this factor was not considered or examined in either study. Oh, Bae, and Kim (2017) also argue that their study on CSR-related advertising in firms operating in controversial industries, such as tobacco and firearms, is limited by their sample of US publicly traded firms because the definition or

identification of controversial industries and practices might be different in another country due to differing religions and cultures.

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care of them in exchange for loyalty. In the third dimension, Masculinity, the fundamental issue is what motivates people. “The women in Feminine countries have the same modest, caring values as the men; in the masculine countries they are somewhat assertive and competitive, but not as much as the men, so that these countries show a gap between men's values and women's values” (Hofstede, 2011, p.12). A Masculine society will be driven by competition, achievement and success, while a feminine society cares for others and the quality of life. A Feminine society is one where quality of life is the sign of success and standing out from the crowd is not

admirable. The fourth dimension Uncertainty Avoidance concerns the way a society deals with an unknown future. It can be described as “the extent to which a culture programs its members to feel either uncomfortable or comfortable in unstructured situations” (Hofstede, 2011,

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Figure 3: Hofstede’s five cultural dimensions (Hofstede, 2001)

Other well-known cultural models include Schwartz’s Cultural Value Orientations (2006) and Trompenaar’s Seven Dimensions of Culture (Trompenaar & Hampden-Turner, 1998).

Schwartz’s cultural model is based on the view of culture as a collection of shared values. Using the relative importance of different values across countries, cultural differences between

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Figure 4: Schwartz's Cultural Value Orientations (2006)

Trompenaar and Hampden-Turner (1998) created bipolar dimensions and suggested that what distinguishes people from one culture compared to another is where their preferences fall on each of these seven dimensions (see Figure 5).

Figure 5: Trompenaar’s Seven Dimensions of Culture (1998)

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cause to an effect with this model due to its correlated nature. Trompenaar’s model received critique on its database and how it supposedly does not support the theory.

Hofstede’s model has been greatly criticised on many of its aspects, but it has also been

recognised and cited by many other cultural researchers. A popular discussion is the assumption of cultural homogeneity within a nation as Hofstede’s model builds on national identities. (McSweeney, 2000) However, Hofstede argues that these national identities are the only means of measuring and identifying cultural differences (Hofstede, 1998, p.481). Another argument that is often mentioned, is that Hofstede’s research is outdated. In today’s rapid globalisation and convergence, the study would have lost its value. Hofstede countered saying that culture was formed over centuries and it will not change overnight, which is supported by recent uses of the model which produced valuable results (Hofstede 1998, p.481).

Even though Hofstede’s research has received much criticism, this study will use his cultural dimensions model to examine cultural differences in respondents. Any cultural model is

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3. Hypotheses Development

Various studies indicate that consumers are often attracted to products advertised with green claims and can be easily misled regarding their authenticity (Khandelwal, Sharma & Jain, 2019; Parguel, Benoit-Moreau & Russell, 2015; Spack et al., 2012; Stokes, 2017). However, when consumers became aware of an organisation’s greenwashing practices, many researchers found that it did significantly impact their perception of the brand. (Chen & Chang, 2013; Chen, Lin, and Chang, 2014; Khandelwal, Sharma & Jain, 2019; Newell, Goldsmith & Banzhaf, 1998; Stokes, 2007). Contradictory, De Jong, Harkink and Barth. (2018) found that even if consumers knew of the possibility of misleading green claims, brands would still create a more favourable image by communicating their interest in environmental issues, whether they spoke the truth or not. These brands were favoured above brands that did not show any interest at all. Despite the vast amount of research on the topic, the results still seem to be somewhat inconclusive.

A more specific approach is often taken in hypothesising the relationships between perceived greenwashing and consumers’ reaction to this. Khandelwal, Sharma and Jain (2019) researched how greenwashing affected trust build-up and consumers’ perception of brand credibility. Other studies found greenwashing to have a negative effect on green WOM (Chen, Lin & Chang, 2014) and green purchasing intentions (Nguyen et al., 2019). Newell, Goldsmith and Banzhaf (1998) found support for the negative effect of greenwashing on consumer perceptions of brands, while consumer perceptions of brands continue to have a positive effect on purchase intentions. In the interest of being able to study the overall effect of Culture on the relationship between Perceived Greenwashing and Consumer Perceptions of Brands (see H2), this study will place an overarching dependent variable for Consumer Perceptions of Brands into the hypothesis model (see Figure 6). The negative relationship between Perceived Greenwashing and Consumer Perceptions of Brands will also be re-examined as aforementioned literature has found contradicting results.

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As Consumer Perceptions of Brands is an overarching term, this construct needs to be broken down into measurable variables. After analysing the methodology of the relevant literature, three clearly defined variables can be extracted. Perceived integrity (De Jong, Harkink & Barth, 2018), trustworthiness (Halverson, 2018), and brand credibility (Newell, Goldsmith &Banzhaf, 1998; Khandelwal, Sharma & Jain, 2019) are named in several studies. The definitions of these variables contain some overlap, as well as the items used to measure these variables. For this study, Perceived Credibility will be included in the hypothesis model (see Figure 6) as the first variable to measure Consumer Perceptions of Brands. The relationship between Perceived Greenwashing and Perceived Credibility will be expected to be negative based on the results of previous studies indicated.

H1a Perceived Greenwashing has a negative relationship with Perceived Credibility.

When judging the authenticity of environmental claims for a product, sustainability, durability and reliability of the product are often taken into account (Chen, Lin & Chang, 2014; Halverson, 2018). Chen, Lin and Chang (2014) uses the perceived quality as a variable when analysing the relationship between greenwashing and green WOM. Furthermore, Halverson (2018) names high quality as one of the variables having a positive effect on consumer perceptions of the brand. Therefore, the second variable to be included in the construct of Consumer Perceptions of Brands will be Perceived Quality (see Figure 6). When consumers become aware of

greenwashing practices, they will consider the quality of the product as less. Thus, Perceived Greenwashing will be hypothesised to have a negative effect on Perceived Quality.

H1b Perceived Greenwashing has a negative relationship with Perceived Quality.

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include Attitude towards Brand as the third variable to complete the construct of Consumer Perceptions of Brands (see Figure 6). Following the results of the study by Newell, Goldsmith and Banzhaf (1998), it is expected that Perceived Greenwashing will have a negative effect on Attitude towards Brand.

H1c Perceived Greenwashing has a negative relationship with Attitude towards Brand.

There is little research on the effect of greenwashing on consumer perceptions of brands that has taken culture into account as a variable. Culture has a large influence on consumer perceptions of product features which display greenwashing practices on a product-level (Kire & Rajkumar, 2017). Accordingly, culture might similarly affect the consumer perceptions of greenwashing. Furthermore, it can be argued that the definition or identification of controversial practices, of which consumers are sceptical, might be different in another country due to differing religions and cultures (Oh, Bae & Kim, 2017). Therefore, this study will examine the effect of Culture on the relationship between Perceived Greenwashing and Consumer Perceptions of Brands. The variable Culture is expected to moderate this relationship, as depicted in Figure 6.

H2: Culture moderates the negative relationship between Perceived Greenwashing and Consumer Perceptions of Brands (Perceived Credibility + Perceived Quality + Attitude towards Brand).

To analyse if Culture strengthens or weakens the relationship between Perceived Greenwashing and Consumer Perceptions of Brands, Hofstede’s five cultural dimensions (2001) will be employed. As Power Distance indicates the extent to which less powerful members of society accept an unequal power distribution, we may be able to expect a weakening effect of Power Distance on the negative relationship between Perceived Greenwashing and Consumer

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negative relationship between Perceived Greenwashing and Consumer Perceptions of Brands (see Figure 6).

H2a: Power Distance weakens the negative relationship between Perceived Greenwashing and Consumer Perceptions of Brands.

A higher level of Collectivism might cause a strengthening effect on the negative relationship between perceived greenwashing and consumer perceptions, as people will look after the group more and there will be a stronger feeling of responsibility towards the group, or in this case, society (Hofstede, 2001). However, a person with Individualistic values might also feel more personally responsible towards the negative effect their consumerism has on the environment and would blame these on themselves, not others. As Collectivism is more about sacrificing

individualistic goals for the group welfare, it would be more likely that it will have a strengthening effect. Therefore, this study will apply the first reasoning and hypothesise Collectivism to strengthen the negative relationship between Perceived Greenwashing and Consumer Perceptions of Brands, as illustrated in Figure 6.

H2b: Collectivism strengthens the negative relationship between Perceived Greenwashing and Consumer Perceptions of Brands.

In a Feminist society, the dominant values are caring for others and the quality of life, while Masculinity indicates a society driven by competition, achievement and success. Greenwashing is often linked to detrimental environmental effects which may affect quality of life. Therefore, it will be likely that a higher level of Masculinity, will weaken the negative relationship between Perceived Greenwashing and Consumer Perceptions of Brands as people will care more about their own achievements than taking care of others in their society. The hypothesis model (see Figure 6) illustrates the expected weakening effect on the negative relationship between Perceived Greenwashing and Consumer Perceptions of Brands.

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Uncertainty Avoidance concerns the way a society deals with the uncertainty of the future. A society with a high level of Uncertainty Avoidance would feel highly threatened by uncertain events, such as climate change, and have built beliefs and institutions to avoid these events. They might have a more negative perception of greenwashing in general as the greenwashing of carbon emissions has been connected to climate change. Therefore, Uncertainty Avoidance would strengthen the negative relationship between Perceived Greenwashing and Consumer Perceptions of Brands (as shown in Figure 6).

H2d Uncertainty Avoidance strengthens the negative relationship between Perceived Greenwashing and Consumer Perceptions of Brands.

A society that scores high on Long-term Orientation encourages thrift and efforts in modern education as a way to prepare for the future. Greenwashing could negatively impact the environment, but the exact effects are difficult to predict. This undetermined future will be difficult to prepare for and it could thus be expected Long-Term Oriented cultures have a more negative view on greenwashing. Long-term Orientation will be hypothesised to strengthen the negative relationship between Perceived Greenwashing and Consumer Perceptions of Brands (see Figure 6).

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4. Methodology

4.1 Research Strategy

The main aim of this study is to contribute to the lack of research into the effect of culture on consumers’ perceptions of brands regarding greenwashing. Accordingly, it seeks to answer the question: What effect will culture have on the relationship between perceived greenwashing and consumer perceptions of brands? The research paradigm followed for this study is a positivist paradigm as it follows a probabilistic model that is determined by previous research to examine its generalisability in a different environment. Due to data limitations on the influence of culture on consumer perceptions of brands, collection of primary data was necessary to continue the study. Primary data provides the ability to fit the collected data as closely to the intended purpose of the study as possible.

4.2 Research Design

Within the research model, Perceived Greenwashing and Culture are set up as the independent variables affecting the dependent variable Consumer Perceptions of Brands. Culture is expected to act as a moderator on the relationship between Perceived Greenwashing and Consumer Perceptions of Brands. To follow up on the hypotheses, the study uses a deductive research approach and tests them to achieve a confirmation or rejection of the hypotheses. The behaviour of the subjects and the environment of the study are not controlled. Therefore, this study adheres to a descriptive research design.

4.2.1 Data Collection Methods

Newell, Goldsmith and Banzhaf (1998) did a study with an experimental design. They used two versions of an advertisement, with and without greenwashing, and a sample size of 225 to

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collect primary data on a sample of 368, through a survey collecting consumer perceptions of three different images of labelling displaying greenwashing.

To collect the necessary primary data, this study uses the quantitative method as it searches to examine the effect of independent variables on the dependent variable using factual data. The most achievable method to collect data would most likely be an online survey. This makes it possible to reach a large audience but as it is standardized and there’s a possibility for scalability, will still allow for easy analysis. Disadvantages to the use of an online survey could be that there will be a lack of nuance and personalisation. It is also more likely to receive dishonest answers or unconscientious responses. However, structured face to face or computer-assisted interviews take more effort and time and will therefore reach a much smaller audience over the same time period as a survey.

4.2.2 Sampling Approach

As previous studies have shown to focus on a primarily individual cultural or country group, this study aims to include respondents with differing cultural values and various cultural backgrounds to examine the effect of the different dimensions of culture on the relationship. Therefore, the total sample size of this study will be larger than the previously mentioned studies to be able to draw conclusions on the different cultural dimensions and aims to reach 200 respondents with varying cultural values.

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4.3 Measurement

4.3.1 Perceived Greenwashing

To measure greenwashing within advertising, first, the seven sins of greenwashing established by TerraChoice (2009) will be used to create advertisements with varying degrees of greenwashing. De Jong, Harkink and Barth (2018) made the argument that greenwashing should be considered a more continuous variable, than the often black and white portrayal it is met with. To

accommodate this, participants will be shown one of three advertisements involving different levels of greenwashing. One of the advertisements will include genuine environmental claims and commit none of the greenwashing sins. Another advertisement will include only one frequently used greenwashing sin. These sins are used frequently because only people with a sceptical mindset who play close attention to the content of the advertisement, will question the legitimacy of the claim. The last advertisement will commit several sins of greenwashing, as to examine the participants’ reaction to a more obvious case of greenwashing.

Based on these intentions, I created several advertisements for toilet paper. I chose toilet paper rolls as this is a common household item that most participants will use or recognize. Its large-scale production has also been known to impact the environment, including the use of paper and chemicals. More recently, its negative environmental impact has been criticised and many brands have been created or have made changes to fulfil the demand for more environmentally friendly toilet paper. The first advertisement I created (see Figure 7), includes no greenwashing. The displayed attributes regarding its environmental friendliness have been carefully researched as to not mistakenly incorporate any of the greenwashing sins. Chlorine is still allowed to be used in the production of toilet paper, although it has been shown to pollute local water sources

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Figure 7: Advertisement 1 without greenwashing

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Figure 8: Advertisement 2 including the sin of the hidden trade-off

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Figure 9: Advertisement 3 including the sin of irrelevance, worshipping fake labels and the lesser of two evils

Each participant will be given one advertisement to examine and their perception of the claims written in the advertisements will be measured. To form a score for the variable Perceived Greenwashing, the construct needs to be broken into measurable items.

Newell, Goldsmith and Banzhaf (1998) aimed to examine the relationship between perceived deception and consumer perceptions of advertisements. Their definition for deception related to perception of an advertisement is that “deception is found when an advertisement is input into the perceptual processes of some audience and the output of that process (a) differs from the reality of the situation and (b) affects buying behaviour to the detriment of the consumer” (Newell, Goldsmith & Banzhaf, 1998, p.54). They used the items accuracy (versus misleading), truthfulness (versus deceptiveness) and factualness (versus distortion), based on Maddox (1982), to measure this construct and found it to be reliable. Chen, Lin and Chang (2014) define

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vague or seemingly un-provable; (4) This product overstates or exaggerates how its green functionality actually is; (5) This product leaves out or masks important information, making the green claim sound better than it is.” (Chen, Lin & Chang, 2014, p.2417) Khandelwal, Sharma and Jain (2019) also look into the effects of greenwashing and use the following items to

measure greenwashing tactics as perceived by consumers: (1) Fluffy language, (2) green product vs. dirty company, (3) suggestive pictures, (4) emphasising one tiny green attribute when

everything else is not green, (5) declaring they are slightly greener than the rest, even if the rest are pretty terrible, (6) greening a dangerous product, (7) use of scientific words, (8) it could be right but there is no evidence, (9) totally fabricated claims or data.

Most of these items used to measure perceived greenwashing can be linked back to the seven sins of greenwashing by Terrachoice (2009). There also seems to be some overlap between the items of different studies. Newell, Goldsmith and Banzhaf (1998) present the most inclusive items. Their item accuracy (versus misleading) can be linked to items 1, 2 and 5 of the study by Chen, Lin and Chang (2014) and the items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of the study by Khandelwal, Sharma and Jain (2019) as these concerns misleading claims that might be true but is difficult to interpret or not connected to environmental benefits. Item 4 of the study by Chen, Lin and Chang (2014) and the item 9 of the study by Khandelwal, Sharma and Jain (2019) can be linked to truthfulness as they cover fabricated claims. Lastly, item 3 of the study by Chen, Lin and Chang (2014) and the item 8 of the study by Khandelwal, Sharma and Jain (2019) can be included in factualness as they are claims without support or evidence. As these three items cover most of the aspects of greenwashing perceived by consumers, this study will use Accuracy, Truthfulness and Factualness to measure the variable Perceived Greenwashing.

4.3.2 Cultural values

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Power Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, Collectivism and Masculinity are rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from “Strongly disagree” to “Strongly agree”. The item Confucian Dynamism, which indicates the Long-Term Orientation, ranges from “Not at all important” to “Very Important”. After measuring the cultural values on an individual level and testing the hypotheses, it might be possible to theorise that people from specific countries with a high value in a certain cultural dimension, might have a specific reaction to greenwashing.

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4.3.3 Consumer Perceptions of Brands

To analyse consumer’s perception of the brand based on their reaction towards the possible greenwashing practices the brand is engaged with, there are several variables to take into account. It would be useful to first examine the consumer perception of the brand regarding environmental practices and after to question their perception of the brand overall, as to consider if the opinions about the environmental friendliness of the organisation translate into opinions of the brand overall. It could be possible that some people have a negative reaction towards

greenwashing, but do not necessarily think the whole brand is immoral.

Analysing previous research, it seems there are a few overlapping items that are present when examining variables similar to Perceived Credibility, specifically when green claims are

involved. Newell, Goldsmith and Banzhaf (1998) names this variable as a consumer’s perceived credibility of the brand will diminish when they believe they were intentionally misled. De Jong, Harkink and Barth (2018) analyse perceived integrity by measuring the consumer perception of honesty in communication by organisations. Furthermore, Halverson (2018) uses the variable trustworthiness to measure the consumer’s opinion on green advertising. Khandelwal, Sharma and Jain (2019) name trustworthiness and reliability as the main items to measure perceived brand credibility. This study will therefore pose questions on perceived Reliability, perceived Trustworthiness and perceived Informativeness of the brand to measure Perceived Credibility.

With regards to environmental claims, Perceived Quality seems to be often measures by sustainability, durability and reliability of the products. Chen, Lin and Chang (2014) use

perceived quality as a variable when analysing the relationship between greenwashing and green word of mouth. Their items include: “(1) The quality of this product is regarded as the best benchmark with respect to environmental concern; (2) The quality of this product is reliable with respect to environmental consideration; (3) The quality of this product is durable with respect to environmental performance; (4) The quality of this product is excellent with respect to

environmental image; (5) The quality of this product is professional with respect to

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perceived Sustainable Quality, perceived Durable Quality and perceived Reliable Quality in the survey.

Lastly, Newell, Goldsmith and Banzhaf (1998) prove greenwashing has a strong negative effect on attitude towards the brand. They measure the feelings the consumer has towards the brands, using items such as pleasant, favourable and good. This study will reuse these items to measure Attitude towards Brand and include questions about perceived Pleasant Feeling, perceived Favourability, and perceived Good Feeling in the survey.

4.4 Data Collection Procedure

The survey was built in a logical structured way to avoid interpretation misconceptions by participants as much as possible. For example, the questions were asked in a positive direction and used a 5-point Likert scale.

In the survey, participants will first be asked to read the introduction and confirm the statements regarding the ethical conduction of the survey. After this, they will be shown one of three advertisements, each one including differing levels of greenwashing based on the use of the seven sins of greenwashing. Their perception of greenwashing and perceptions of the brand will be assessed by questions which can appropriately measure the different constructs. Next, the survey will propose various questions regarding their cultural values to measure the level of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions within the participants. Lastly, participants will be asked to provide demographic information about themselves concerning age, gender, current nationality, born nationality, education level, estimation of annual income, and number of children. This will allow for categorisation of the participants and, therefore, enables the possible analysis of

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4.5 Data Analysis

For data analysis, the program IBM SPSS Statistics 26 will be used. As participants answered questions on Perceived Greenwashing and Consumer Perceptions of Brands for only one of three advertisements, these variables concerning the same questions are computed into one variable. This makes it possible to perform a factor analysis and reliability analysis on the collected data. The independent variables, Perceived Greenwashing and Culture, and the three dependent variables, Perceived Credibility, Perceived Quality, and Attitude towards Brand, are measured using multi-items scales, where participants responded to all items using a 5-point Likert-type scale.

4.6 Research Ethics

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5. Results

5.1 Psychometric Properties Assessment

The independent variable Perceived Greenwashing was measured using the following three items; perceived Accuracy, perceived Truthfulness and perceived Factualness of the

advertisement’s environmental promises. Before performing a factor analysis, I examined the correlations between the items (see Table 1). There were no extremely low or high correlations found (based on a rule of thumb of < 0.3 and >0.9).

The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test measuring the proportion of variance that might be

common variance, revealed the data is suitable for factor analysis with a KMO value of .74 (see Appendix 2). Factor analysis showed that all variables loaded heavily onto one component and the cumulative variance explained by the one component is 79 per cent (α = .87) with no

improvement possible when deleting items) (See Table 2). Before computing the three items into one score for the variable Perceived Greenwashing, the items will have to be reverse coded as they currently measure from 1 = Most Perceived greenwashing to 5 = Least Perceived

greenwashing.

Table 1: Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlations Perceived Greenwashing (based on SPSS results in Appendix 2)

Table 2: Factor Analysis Perceived Greenwashing (based on SPSS results in Appendix 2)

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examined the correlations between the items (see Table 3). There were no extremely low or high correlations found (based on a rule of thumb of < 0.3 and >0.9). The KMO value of .87 (see Appendix 3) indicates the sampling was adequate and the collected data is suitable for factor analysis. After factor analysis, it is shown that while only one component has an eigenvalue >1 and the total variance explained is 56 per cent, the next two components have an eigenvalue of .97 and .92. When these 3 components are included, the total cumulative variance explained is 77 per cent. For this study, I will be including these 3 components as they are incredibly close to the cut-off value and their incorporation raises the explained variance considerably.

When looking at the reliability analysis, the Cronbach’s alpha for all factors is sufficient (Credibility α = .78, Quality α = .84, Attitude α = .89). However, the reliability of the factor Credibility could be improved by removing the item “I believe this brand to inform the consumer well” (α = .84) (see Table 4).

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Table 4: Factor Analysis Consumer Perceptions of Brands (based on SPSS results in Appendix 3)

The moderator Culture was divided into the 5 cultural dimensions of Hofstede (2001) and measured with the CVS (Yoo, Donthu & Lenartowicz, 2011). The variables Power Distance (5 items, α = .84), Uncertainty Avoidance (5 items, α = .83), Collectivism (6 items, α = .81), Masculinity (4 items, α = .76), and Long-term Orientation (6 items, α = .65) were rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale. The Cronbach’s alpha for Long-term Orientation is quite low, although still acceptable, but there is no improvement possible when deleting an item. (See Table 5)

The KMO values for all individual cultural dimension variables are above .7 (see Appendix 4), meaning the data is suitable for factor analysis. Individual factor analysis shows that all

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Table 5: Factor Analyses Cultural Dimensions (based on SPSS results in Appendix 4)

5.2 Sample Description

This study used an online survey distributed through convenience sampling. Links to the survey were published on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, and were spread via my network through private messages, using snowball sampling. Of the 244 participants, 26 were excluded from the final sample as they were incomplete or indicated non-serious answering behaviour. 218 complete and valid responses were collected to use for analysis.

Of the participants, 20 per cent was male and 77 per cent was female, with the remaining people indicating another gender or preferring not to say (see Figure 11). The age category of 18 to 24 is most represented, after which somewhat equal percentages of people under 18, between 25 and 34, and over 55, are included (see Figure 12).

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Most participants had a high school diploma or bachelor’s degree, while 15 per cent had not obtained a high school diploma (yet) and 14 per cent had a master’s degree (see Figure 13). As for household income, participants were quite equally divided over the first three income brackets of below US$10.000, US$10.000 to US$50.000, and US$50.000 to US$100.000 (see Figure 14). Lastly, more than half of the participants were single, while 12 per cent were in a relationship and 19 per cent was married with children. (See Appendix 5)

Figure 14: Demographics: Household Income

Even though just below half of the participants are Dutch, this demographic characteristic was to be expected as this study was conducted from The Netherlands. Still, other participants

originated from a wide array of countries. The highest percentages of current nationality include France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, UK and USA. Individual participants were native to countries such as China, Egypt, Nepal, Oman, Peru and South Korea (see Appendix 5).

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Every participant would get one of three advertisements with different levels of greenwashing. After randomisation and the removal of 26 responses, 79 participants answered questions about advertisement 1, 67 about advertisement 2, and 72 about advertisement 3.

5.3 Hypotheses Testing

To test H1, I first built a sum variable for all variables involved. A correlation analysis indicates that there is a significant negative relationship between the independent variable Perceived Greenwashing and the dependent variables, Perceived Accuracy, Perceived Quality, and Attitude (see Appendix 6). To analyse the relationship in more detail, I will employ a multiple regression analysis. As there is one independent variable and multiple dependent variables, this study will perform multivariate linear regression analysis (see Table 6).

Table 6: Multivariate Linear Regression Analysis Perceived Greenwashing and Consumer Perceptions of Brands (based on SPSS results in Appendix 7)

Standard errors reported in parentheses. *p<0.05

According to the test results, the negative relationship between Perceived Greenwashing and Perceived Accuracy, Perceived Quality, and Attitude towards Brand, is significant with a significance level of 0.05. This would mean H1a (Perceived greenwashing has a negative relationship with perceived credibility of brand), H1b (Perceived greenwashing has a negative relationship with perceived quality of brand) and H1c (Perceived greenwashing has a negative relationship with attitude towards brand) are supported. Overall, H1 (Perceived greenwashing has a negative relationship with consumer perceptions of brands) is supported.

To test H2, a moderation analysis will have to be performed. The recommendations on centering the independent variable and moderators before performing a moderation analysis differ.

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other, the decision to center might not have much influence on the testing of the interaction term, except in cases of extreme multicollinearity. It can, however, make a difference to estimating and testing the significance of other terms in the model. (Dawson, 2014) When deciding to center one’s independent variables and moderators, there are two options. Mean-centering will enable direct interpretation of the regression coefficients of the main effects in terms of the original variables. Z-standardisation is easily accomplished in SPSS and allows for straightforward interpretation of the form of the interaction by adding and subtracting the coefficients (Dawson & Richter, 2006). Based on this study’s use of SPSS and its aim to interpret interaction effects, z-standardisation would presumably be most helpful.

The independent variable Perceived Greenwashing and moderator variables Power Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, Collectivism, Masculinity, and Long-term Orientation are z-standardised to avoid multicollinearity (See Appendix 8). The dependent variables, Perceived Credibility, Perceived Quality and Attitude towards Brand, will not be z-standardised to allow for interpretations that reflect the true variation in these variables (Dawson, 2014).

As there is one independent variable (X), five moderators (Z) and three dependent variables (Y), the moderation analysis can become quite complex. The analysis will need to involve the main effects of each of the predictors, the various two-way interaction terms between each pair of variables, and the six-way interaction between all variables overall. This would statistically be represented as the following:

Y = b0 + b1X + b2Z1 + b3Z2 + b4Z3 + b5Z4 + b6Z5 + b7XZ1 + b8XZ2 + b9XZ3 + b10XZ4 + b11XZ5 + b12Z1Z2 + b13Z1Z3 + b14Z1Z4 + b15Z1Z5 + b16Z2Z3 + b17Z2Z4 + b18Z2Z5 + b19Z3Z4 + b20Z3Z5 + b21Z4Z5 + b22XZ1Z2Z3Z4Z5 + e

For the moderation analysis, two-way interaction terms between the independent variable and moderators (PGxPD, PGxUA, PGxCOL, PGxMAS, and PGxLTO) and between the moderators (PDxUA, PDxCOL, PDxMAS, PDxLTO, UAxCOL, UAxMAS, UAxLTO, COLxMAS,

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moderation analysis by the use of a hierarchical linear regression analysis. Three analyses will need to be conducted, one for each of the dependent variables.

In the first step, the control variables (gender, age, level of education, gross yearly household income, and household composition) were added. For step two, the independent variable (Perceived Greenwashing) and moderators (Power Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance,

Collectivism, Masculinity, and Long-Term Orientation) were entered. In step three, all the two-way interaction terms between the independent variable and moderators (PGxPD, PGxUA, PGxCOL, PGxMAS, and PGxLTO) were added. After this, in the fourth step, I also added the two-way interaction terms between the various moderators (PDxUA, PDxCOL, PDxMAS, PDxLTO, UAxCOL, UAxMAS, UAxLTO, COLxMAS, COLxLTO, and MASxLTO). Lastly, the six-way interaction term (PGxPDxUAxCOLxMASxLTO) was added in the fifth step (see Appendices 9,10 and 11).

These main effects and interaction effects are separated into different steps indicated by models. This way it will be possible to see which models show a significant change in explained variance and if two-way interactions between moderators and the six-way interaction add value to the model. If these interactions portrayed in model 4 and model 5 are found to be insignificant, it is possible to continue the analysis with model 3 (Dawson, 2014).

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To test the hypotheses regarding the moderating effects of cultural dimensions (H2a, H2b, H2c, H2d, and H2e), a significance level of <0.05 will also be employed. Examining the hierarchical regression analysis for each dependent variable, it seems a few effects are indeed found to be significant. The main effect of Long-Term Orientation on the dependent variable Perceived Credibility is significant with a B of .24 (Sig. = .039) (see Table 7). This main effect is the independent variable effect a moderator has on the dependent variable. It indicates a direct positive effect of Long-Term Orientation on Perceived credibility.

The two-way interaction between Perceived Greenwashing and Masculinity (B of -.49 (Sig. = .008)) has a significant effect on Perceived Quality (see Table 8). This would indicate that Masculinity has a weakening effect on the negative relationship between Perceived Greenwashing and Perceived Quality, which confirms H2c.

Both the main effect of Long-Term Orientation with a B of .52 (Sig. = .005) and the two-way interaction between Perceived Greenwashing and Long-Term Orientation with a B of -.38 (Sig. = .021) have a significant effect on Attitude towards Brand (see Table 9). It would mean Long-Term Orientation directly affects Attitude towards Brand in a positive manner, while also having a weakening effect on the negative relationship between Perceived Greenwashing and Attitude towards Brand. This perceived effect contradicts H2e.

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6. Discussion and Conclusions

This study identified a research gap among the contemporary research on the relationship between greenwashing and consumer perceptions of brands. Studies were often conducted in an environment with a largely singular or unspecified cultural group and did not consider cultural variation as a possible variable. Therefore, I set up a hypothesis model including Culture as a moderator of the relationship between Perceived Greenwashing and Consumer Perceptions of Brands.

6.1 Discussion of the Results

Because of differing results from previous literature on consumer perceptions of brands regarding greenwashing practices, the relationship between Perceived Greenwashing and Consumer Perceptions of Brands was re-examined. The dependent variable was broken down into three measurable variables. H1a sought to confirm a negative relationship between Perceived Greenwashing and Perceived Credibility. H1b hypothesised a negative effect of Perceived Greenwashing on Perceived Quality. H1c expected a negative relationship between Perceived Greenwashing and Attitude towards Brand. All hypotheses were tested and confirmed, re-establishing the negative relationship between Perceived Greenwashing and Consumer

Perceptions of Brands. This would mean that an increase in greenwashing perceived by consumers will lead to a more negative perception of the brand participating in greenwashing.

Regarding the moderators, H2c hypothesised a weakening effect of Masculinity on the negative relationship between Perceived Greenwashing and Consumer Perceptions of Brands and was confirmed. The interaction between Masculinity and Perceived Greenwashing was shown to have a significant negative effect on Perceived Quality. Therefore, a person with a higher level of Masculinity in their set of cultural values would likely perceive the quality of a brand

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about greenwashing. Therefore, they might not acknowledge the environmental detriment caused by greenwashing practices and would not perceive an organisation that participates in

greenwashing practices badly, even if they recognize greenwashing.

Regarding H2e, surprisingly, the findings contradict the initial hypothesis. Long-Term Orientation was expected to have a strengthening effect on the negative relationship between Perceived Greenwashing and Consumer Perceptions of Brands. Instead, a significant negative interaction effect between Long-Term Orientation and Perceived Greenwashing on the

dependent variable Attitude towards Brand was found. Thus, a person with cultural values

related to high Long-Term Orientation might have a weaker negative attitude towards brands that participate in greenwashing than a person with low Long-Term Orientation would have. The argument behind the initial hypothesis was that a society that encourages thrift and efforts in education to prepare for the future, would understandably look negatively upon the unpredictable effects of greenwashing.

To explain these contradicting findings, I will take a more detailed look on the cultural

dimension Long-Term Orientation. Long-Term Orientation only concerns personal benefits and a person with a high value in this dimension seeks to improve their own circumstances in life. When looking back at the sample description, 44 per cent of the sample is over 25 years old. These participants may not be as concerned with greenwashing as younger participants would be. Any detrimental effects to the environment these greenwashing practices cause, might not even become noticeable in their lifetime. As such, they might not be as concerned that greenwashing will have a negative effect on their future.

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the present aside and instead work hard for success in the future. 98 per cent of the 2,219 products making environmental claims surveyed by TerraChoice (2009) committed at least one of the seven sins of greenwashing. Seeing as so many products employ greenwashing practices, it can be inferred that the increasing demand for green products and the increase in greenwashing practices could be related. This demand for innovative products could be stimulating the

economy from which people could, in turn, profit. Looking at it this way, the increasing demand, and thus the increase in greenwashing, could perhaps cause personal gain in the near future. Consequently, a person with a high value in Long-Term Orientation would not perceive greenwashing and brands participating in greenwashing as badly.

Hypotheses H2a, H2b and H2d were not confirmed, meaning Power Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance and Collectivism did not seem to have any significant moderating effect on the negative relationship between Perceived Greenwashing and Consumer Perceptions of Brands.

6.2 Implications

6.2.1 Theoretical Implications

The aim of this study was to address the research gap in contemporary literature on

greenwashing and consumer perceptions of brands. Most studies utilised a sample with a singular or unknown cultural background and did not consider cultural variation might affect the

relationship between greenwashing and consumer perceptions. Khandelwal, Sharma and Jain (2019) sampled a group of individuals in Delhi NCR. Nyilasy, Gangadharbatla and Paladino (2014) selected a group of US students while De Jong, Harkink and Barth (2018) questioned students from The Netherlands. Even though it could be possible that these samples include cultural variation, this was not examined separately. This study made its own unique contribution to the research on greenwashing and consumer perceptions of brands by analysing the possible moderating effect culture may have within this model.

I found significant support for the moderating effects of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions

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quality of a brand participating in greenwashing as negatively as a person with more Feminine values would. Additionally, a person with a high value of Long-Term Orientation would have a less negative attitude towards a brand participating in greenwashing than a person more Short-Term Oriented would have.

Furthermore, the study reconfirmed that Perceived Greenwashing is negatively related to Consumer Perceptions of Brands. This was previously proven by various studies (Chen & Chang, 2013; Chen, Lin, & Chang, 2014; Khandelwal, Sharma & Jain, 2019; Newell, Goldsmith & Banzhaf, 1998; Stokes, 2007). However, some contradicting results were found by De Jong, Harkink and Barth. (2018). They found that even if consumers knew of the possibility of misleading green claims, brands would still create a more favourable image by communicating their interest in environmental issues, whether they spoke the truth or not. As the results still seemed to show some inconclusiveness, this study re-examined the relationship and found

support for the hypothesis that Perceived Greenwashing is indeed negatively related to Consumer Perceptions of Brands.

6.2.2 Managerial Implications

These findings can indicate what actions can be taken by management to draw an advantage out of this study. As it involves a cross-cultural study, organisations in an international setting can especially benefit from the findings. Firstly, as Perceived Greenwashing is likely to negatively affect Consumer Perceptions of Brands, organisations will have to be very careful regarding their green claims about products and services. Research into greenwashing practices is developing and consumers are becoming more aware about this phenomenon. To avoid negatively affecting their own brand image, it would be recommended that organisations verify that the green claims they make are substantiated.

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and Short-Term Orientation might be critical of brands participating in greenwashing. Overall, the outcomes of this research might be used to adapt and improve cross-cultural communication of environmental practices from organisations towards consumers in the hope of improving consumer perceptions of brands.

6.3 Limitations and Recommendations for Future Research

Considering the time limitation on the research, the convenient nature of the sample may not give a good representation of the general population. The eventual sample size of 218 might not be large enough to give a high accuracy. Future research will have to be conducted with a larger sample size to increase its generalisability.

56 per cent of the participants in the study were under the age of 25 and almost half of the participants had completed a bachelor’s degree or higher. This could cause a bias towards the younger generation and a higher education level of the sample size. In cross-cultural research, it is possible that interpretation of the survey is limited by differing native languages.

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Other research mentions several other possible variables that could influence the relationship between Perceived Greenwashing and Consumer Perceptions of Brands. Results suggest that after witnessing discrepant green advertising and corporate performance, consumers may become more sceptical about green advertising overall. Consumers could start forming negative attributions about the motives of an organisation, deeming them as having ulterior motives (Nyilasy, Gangadharbatla & Paladino, 2014). Forehand and Grier (2003) noticed a similar effect where sceptical consumer attributions lowered corporate brand evaluations when there was an inconsistency between the communicated goals of an organisation and the type of benefits it received. It is also argued that difficulties in distinguishing the truth and false in green

advertising has led to an overall cynicism, and consequently scepticism, among consumers. This general scepticism makes it challenging for actual eco-friendly organisations to convince

potential consumers of their environmental contribution, which could hinder the development of real green products. Furthermore, Nguyen et al. (2019) confirmed the mediating role of

consumer scepticism on the negative relationship between greenwashing and green purchasing intention. They also found that when consumers had a higher degree of information and knowledge on green product, the negative relationship between greenwashing and green purchase intentions is strengthened. Therefore, information and knowledge can act in a moderating role on this relationship.

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Greenwashing and Consumer Perceptions of Brands: The Moderating Role of Culture