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The new greenwash? Potential marketing problems with carbon offsets
... Some companies" environmental products are apparently "green" which means that they deceive consumers and cause misleading to evaluate the environmental impact of products. By considering misleading and untruthful applications, consumers stop to undertake environmental behaviors (Polonsky et al., 2010). When consumers do not believe the credibility of green claims, greenwash cause risk perception about environmental applications of firms (Gillespie, 2008). ...
... When purchasing products with green claims, many consumers perceive fear because of being cheated (Nuttavuthisit and Thogersen, 2015). So, greenwash can be stated as a barrier to building trust towards green products (Polonsky et al., 2010). Accordingly, greenwash can be a barrier to building green trust towards a brand. ...
... When consumers feel confusion about the green applications of companies, their perception on the companies" credibility of environmental performance may decrease. This finding of the current study is also similar to Polonsky et al (2010), indicating greenwashing as a barrier to trust building. Consumer perception of company"s environmental competence and benevolence, which all are positive emotions and indicate trustfulness, are affected by risk perception. ...
Today, companies are searching for the ways to be perceived as more sensitive to the environment in order to enhance their green brand equity, because of consumers’ increasing environmental concern. Companies have reacted to increasing environmental consciousness of consumers by introducing and developing eco-friendly products. However, there are still consumers being suspicious about the environmental performance of companies and their products. Greenwash or disclosure of deceptive green claims decreases the popularity of the real green product and decreases the effectiveness of green marketing.This study proposed four constructs -greenwashing, green perceived risk, green confusion and green trust- as the predictors of the green brand equity of gas station companies. The study offers a negative relationship between greenwash perception and green brand equity. Besides, the effects of green confusion, green perceived risk and green trust on green brand equity are tested. The study also develops perceived greenwash index, so that it reveals a direct effect of greenwash on green brand equity. The empirical analysis was carried out based on the data obtained from 400 customers of the gas station companies, which are located in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. The survey result was analyzed by using Partial Least Squares (PLS-PM) analysis method. The results reveal that consumer’s greenwash perception has a positive effect on green confusion and green perceived risk, whereas green confusion and green perceived risk have negative effects on green trust. Expectedly, green trust has a positive effect on green brand equity. The result also indicates that consumer’s greenwash perception negatively and directly affects green brand equity.
... This is because by adopting greenwash measures, companies can deploy low-cost manufacturing machines and inexpensive advertising methods that result in low-quality products and further degrading the environment. Companies do not take any actions on how to save biological life (Polonsky et al. 2010). One of the essential matters in recent times is the dumping of raw chemicals in the rivers by the companies. ...
... Greenwash undermines the whole cluster of green selling. Thanks to these reasons, customers are laborious to trust in green selling campaigns (Polonsky et al. 2010). Organizations around the world should and must adopt the measures that have an impact on individuals and society. ...
... Greenwash also limits green brand love green brand image and green brand loyalty. Few researchers have identified the negative effect of greenwash on the brand image (Polonsky et al. 2010), and brand loyalty (Chen et al. 2018), however, none of the research has identified the effect on brand love. Greenwash affecting green purchase behavior can be extracted from literature, but using green brand love, green brand image, and green brand loyalty has never been studied before. ...
Consumers’ interest is accelerating toward environmentally sustainable products, which are commonly known as green products. Companies use greenwash to attract environmentally conscious consumers. The effects of greenwash have been studied on green purchase behavior of consumers along with green brand image, green brand love, and green brand loyalty as mediating variables. Consumers having experience of using any of the green products have been targeted for data collection. This empirical study has been tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). It has been proved that greenwash negatively affects the green purchase behavior of consumers. Furthermore, green brand image, green brand love, and green brand loyalty positively affect green purchase behavior, whereas they are negatively influenced by greenwash. Greenwash directly as well as indirectly negatively affects green purchase behavior. Firms must obtain consumers’ trust by diminishing greenwash and promoting green brand image, green brand love, and green brand loyalty, which can lead the consumers toward their green purchase behavior. This study can be potential in making firms competitive in the era of growing consumers' concerns about environmentally sustainable products.
... A selection of credible words on a firm's environmental and social performance, without the full disclose of detrimental data on such aspects in order to generate an excessively positive brand image, is an even proper definition offered by Lyon and Maxwell (2011). All these concepts of greenwash represent concerns with interaction, which leads people to believe that the environmental sustainability, procedures or goods of a company are excessively favorable (Lyon & Montgomery, 2015).Greenwash corresponds to advertisement or promotion which is cheating on customers about goods' environmental attributes (Polonsky, Grau, & Garma, 2010). Environmental efficiency of their goods is sometimes inflated by businesses, such that Greenwash is widespread in the industry (Parguel et al., 2011). ...
... The whole green marketing activity would be harmed by Greenwash (Hamann & Kapelus, 2004). Consumers are ultimately unable to trust in the green ads of corporations (Polonsky et al., 2010). Customers are therefore increasingly suspicious of the opportunistic greenwash of companies . ...
... Greenwash assumptions will discourage the mindset of customers towards the environmental commitments of an enterprise. This might contribute to a lack of consumer trust in green goods (Polonsky et al., 2010). Without such restrictions, greenwash practices increase exponentially, and if proceeded this will progressively jeopardize consumer trust and confuse consumers about any green advertisement (Aggarwal & Kadyan, 2014). ...
... A selection of credible words on a firm's environmental and social performance, without the full disclose of detrimental data on such aspects in order to generate an excessively positive brand image, is an even proper definition offered by Lyon and Maxwell (2011). All these concepts of greenwash represent concerns with interaction, which leads people to believe that the environmental sustainability, procedures or goods of a company are excessively favorable (Lyon & Montgomery, 2015).Greenwash corresponds to advertisement or promotion which is cheating on customers about goods' environmental attributes (Polonsky, Grau, & Garma, 2010). Environmental efficiency of their goods is sometimes inflated by businesses, such that Greenwash is widespread in the industry (Parguel et al., 2011). ...
... The whole green marketing activity would be harmed by Greenwash (Hamann & Kapelus, 2004). Consumers are ultimately unable to trust in the green ads of corporations (Polonsky et al., 2010). Customers are therefore increasingly suspicious of the opportunistic greenwash of companies . ...
... Greenwash assumptions will discourage the mindset of customers towards the environmental commitments of an enterprise. This might contribute to a lack of consumer trust in green goods (Polonsky et al., 2010). Without such restrictions, greenwash practices increase exponentially, and if proceeded this will progressively jeopardize consumer trust and confuse consumers about any green advertisement (Aggarwal & Kadyan, 2014). ...
The study discusses the influence of greenwash on green purchase intention and explores the mediation roles of green confusion, green perceived risk and green trust. The research object of this study focuses in Jordanian food and beverage corporations. This research utilizes structural equation modeling to undertake an empirical study. The results indicate that greenwash positively effects green confusion and green perceived risk. Besides, this study demonstrates that green confusion and green perceived risk mediate the negative relationship between greenwash and green purchase intention. It means that greenwash does not only have a directly negative effect on green purchase intention, but also have an indirectly negative effect on it via green confusion and green perceived risk. Finally, green trust does not influence green purchase intention and does not mediate the greenwash and green purchase intention relationship. Thus, this study suggests that companies should decrease their greenwash behaviors and should not only claim their "greenness" but also show the proof of their green products. These policies would reduce customer confusion and risk. It will raise the likelihood of green practices and claims by businesses, and contribute to improved green food and beverage purchasing intention.
... The perception of green washing undermines consumers' attitudes towards a company that communicates about environmental engagement (Chen & Chang, 2013). As a result, greenwashing can destroy the market by causing consumers to suspect green products (Polonsky, Grau, & Garma, 2010). ...
... For example, more consumers may choose reusable shopping bags instead of plastic bags. In another example, during the replacement of electrical goods, consumers reduce the contribution of greenhouse gases by purchasing more energy efficient ones (Polonsky et al., 2010). Green consumers, who have concerns about environmental protection, pay attention to and avoid these behaviors (Peattie, 2001): ...
Green Marketing refers to efforts that in the production and marketing of products and services cause less harm
to the environment. It is now difficult to open up to local or international markets and to gain competitive advantage
over rivals. In this sense, it became necessary to meet the expectations of the consumers and to adapt to the changing
world. Today, as environmental problems increase, the consumers’ expectations from businesses have changed.
Green consumers are generally defined as individuals who adopt environmentally friendly behaviors and / or buy
green products among standard alternatives. It is important to create a good image as an environmentalist company
in the consciousness of consumers and society, to be environmentalist from the production of the products to putting
them on market and to improve recycling. In other words, the creation of the Green Marketing Mix (4P) enables the
business process to reach the green goal. Green product refers to the process of environmentally friendly, quality and
recycling oriented processes in the emergence of the product. Green price refers to the expenditures in the
manufacturing processes up to the presentation of the product affect the purchasing behavior of the consumer. Green
distribution refers to the business activities such as logistics carried out required in delivering the product to the
market with the least harm to nature. Green promotion is the introduction of a green product and the transfer of
environmental information to consumers through the right connections in the field of green product in its corporate
activities. Within this process, green strategic marketing is the planning and policy making process by including the
green factor in the marketing strategies of the enterprises. In this sense, this study focuses on the green marketing,
green marketing mix, green consumer concepts, green marketing strategies and global green practices.
... Another study that conducted on almost 4.000 consumers found greenwashing in all product categories but especially in cleaning, cosmetics, toys and baby products (Orange, 2010). Some researchers emphasize the threats of greenwashing on industries and they claim that changing perceptions, attitude, and increasing suspicious of consumer toward green products might destroy the market as a whole (Carlson et al, 1993;Wheaton, 2008;Polonsky et al, 2010). ...
... Laufer (2003: 255) emphasizes the company's reputation and states the potential risks of greenwashing on companies as creating confusion, undermining credibility, and managerial myopia. In addition, some scholars accept greenwashing as a barrier on the penetration of real green products/services and progress toward sustainability (Polonsky et al, 2010;Gillespie, 2008). Horiuchi et al.(2009) accept greenwashing as a barrier for the green marketing since it can make consumer skeptical of sustainability initiatives. ...
... These five approaches are discussed below. Munshi/Kurian, 2005;Lyon/Maxwell, 2006;Marquis/Toffel, 2011, Walker/Wan, 2012Chen/Chang, 2013;Lyon/Montgomery, 2013;Chen et al., 2014;Nyilasy et al., 2014;DeVries et al., 2015;Rahman et al., 2015, Smith/Xavier, 2015Xingqiang, 2015, Berrone et al., 2016Font et al., 2016 Polansky, 1995;Cumming, 2001;Polansky, 2010;Delmas/Burbano, 2011;Insch, 2011; Schielke The measurement and determination of greenwashing is concerned with the question how greenwashing can be identified and quantified based on corporate and product communication (e.g., Chen & Chang, 2013;Chen et al., 2014;Laufer, 2003). Horiuchi & Schuchard (2009) suggested a list with 14 questions to investigate whether a company is practicing greenwashing or not. ...
... Aragon-Correa, 2014;Fernando et al., 2014;Kim/Lyon, 2014;bin Shahudin et al., 2015; Guo et al., 2015; Testa et al.2003;Fliegelmann, 2009;Polansky et al., 2010; Self et al., 2010; Chan, 2013;George, 2013;Lyon/Montgomery, 2015;Parguel et al., 2011;Geerts, 2014;Parguel/Benoit-Moreau, 2014; Thomas, 2014, Parguel et al., Roulet ...
Greenwashing, defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “disinformation disseminated by an organization so as to present an environmentally responsible public image” can cause multifarious problems for companies. The phenomenon of greenwashing has, however, not attracted much attention in the event marketing literature to date. The purpose of this paper is twofold. It first describes and analyses the specific characteristics and features of greenwashing in event marketing. It then seeks to identify the current fundamental approaches of how to avoid greenwashing in event marketing and to assess their potential. A two-step literature analysis with complementary search approaches served as a methodical framework. First, journals related to event marketing were screened for the keywords “greenwashing” and “greenwash”. Next, the general literature was consulted for the same keywords. The results clearly demonstrate that the subject of greenwashing has been widely neglected in the event literature. There appears to be no overall concept or approach that allows event actors to avoid greenwashing, albeit various individual initiatives exist. However, it also became clear that initiatives against greenwashing in event marketing can be developed and implemented in the short and long term, for example by integrating different stakeholders. Additional political and juridical efforts based on specific guidelines are also necessary to prevent greenwashing in the future. The study is the first one to provide a systematic approach to the topic of greenwashing in the context of event marketing, including relevant approaches for its avoidance. It can thus help practitioners to better detect and avoid greenwashing in the event industry and to guide similar research in the future.
... For example, according to a World Wildlife Foundation study in 2008, there were at least eight alternative global organizations that certified firms' carbon offset schemes (Kollmuss et al., 2008), where each scheme has a different calculation of carbon footprints, as well as alternative criteria for including a project as an appropriate offset. This ambiguity makes it hard for consumers to assess alternative programs or to make effective decisions on which assessment method is meaningful (Polonsky, Garu, and Garma, 2010). Of course, consumers can interpret a range of information provided as firms being environmentally o riented, even if this is not the intent of the firm. ...
This chapter presents the fundamentals of "green" marketing by drawing on traditional marketing theory as well as research focused on green marketing context. It discusses five critical areas in green marketing. The first critical area stems from green marketing theory and practice that examines the logic for reducing the environmental impact of value creation and exchange. The second critical area highlights green marketing strategy that focuses on achieving organizational goals in ways that can reduce or eliminate negative impacts on the natural environment. The third critical area examines the green marketing mix that accounts for green products, green distribution, green pricing, and green promotion. By using traditional marketing concepts, the chapter identifies how the entire marketing mix elements should consistently provide a complete green product offering. Green products and processes need to be researched, designed, and manufactured to include environmentally safe ingredients and components. Products need to be strategically priced to reflect their green values, distributed in the green chain channels and displayed effectively to highlight their status, and accurately communicated to consumers and stakeholders. The fourth critical area illustrates governance and control. It shows how the holistic transformation toward greening the organization requires organizational culture change to gain support within and outside the firm to ensure environmental issues are appropriately considered. These can be assessed by using existing management mechanisms, such as environmental management systems and/or triple bottom line management, which ensure best practice and continuous improvements to occur. Lastly, the chapter discusses the future of green marketing and the direction that businesses need to take if they seek to be sustainable.
... When a brand claims to be environmentally responsible but does not engage in any specific activities to protect the environment, it is likely to be viewed as hypocritical because it does not act as it says [25]. It is also reasonable to doubt the authenticity of a brand when it is found to selectively disclose positive information without fully disclosing negative information [48]. Consumers are apt to believe that the brand will do anything to maximize its own benefit even if it damages consumers' benefits. ...
Greenwashing has become a widespread phenomenon and obstructs green products, but literature on how consumers react to misbehaving brands is still scarce. This study aims to investigate the effect of greenwashing on consumers’ brand avoidance, integrating the mediating effect of brand hypocrisy and the moderating effect of CSR–CA belief. Data were acquired from a questionnaire survey of 317 consumers. Hypotheses were tested in a first-stage moderated mediation model with a bootstrapping method using the PROCESS program in SPSS. The empirical results demonstrated that greenwashing has a positive effect on brand avoidance, which is partially mediated by brand hypocrisy. Meanwhile, the positive effects of greenwashing on brand hypocrisy and brand avoidance are both weaker at higher levels of CSR–CA belief. Furthermore, the mediating effect of brand hypocrisy is also weaker at higher levels of CSR–CA belief. Based on these findings, we recommend that brands fulfill their environmental claims and balance their quality control, manufacturing costs and environment protection. Moreover, the government and environmental protection organizations should educate the public that there is not necessarily a tradeoff between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate capability (CA).
... Greenwashing literature is indeed consistent in stressing the necessity of involving regulators and policy makers for developing CSR standards and legislation. The range of scholarly suggestions covers pleas for self-regulation bodies (Kirchhoff, 2000) or independent auditing or rating (Huang & Chen, 2015;Parguel et al., 2011) and general demands for standards and regulations (Polonsky, Grau, & Garma, 2010) as well as a clear call for "federal regulations" (Feinstein, 2013) as the strongest form of third-party involvement. According to greenwashing scholars, this would substantially decrease greenwashing practices and would ultimately lead to a more trustworthy form of CSR. ...
As public concern over greenwashing has grown in the last two decades, academic research has increased correspondingly, and there is now a substantial body of research addressing issues related to greenwashing. In this paper, we therefore review and analyze greenwashing research, to provide an evaluation of trends and progress in the field and a synthesis of the empirical and conceptual results presented in existing studies.
Our main finding leading to our theory contribution is the criticism raised in greenwashing research that the entirely voluntary CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) approach facilitates the diffusion of greenwashing. The voluntary idea of CSR is still prevalent in the CSR literature and appears to be a grey-zone that creates space for misleading ‘green’ communication.
Consequently, we propose that greenwashing could be better prevented with a combination of voluntary and mandatory aspects. The new paradigm should promote creative and effective corporate CSR initiatives, while at the same time design the limits and the rules for their accomplishments and communication, as firms would risk breaching legislation when overstretching CSR messages.
... Furthermore, this study contributes to the tourism and environmental consumption literature by identifying the direct impact of source and brand credibility on consumers' purchase intentions of environmental products. Given that public skepticism exists in messages and claims promoted by environmental producers and suppliers (Polonsky, Grau, and Garma 2010), it is important to understand how effective communication with consumers can improve the adoption of more environmentally conscious consumption. ...
Past literature has identified low purchase rates of aviation voluntary carbon offsetting (VCO) schemes. A lack of credibility of such schemes has been identified as a key obstacle, yet little attention has been given on how to enhance perceived credibility. Using communication theory, this study examines effects of message framing on consumers’ perceived credibility of aviation VCO messages. Data were drawn from a representative sample of 1680 Australians. The results revealed that spatial distance framing influences air passengers’ perceived credibility of aviation VCO messages. Messages focusing on the influence of VCO programs on the environment of a local community obtain higher perceived credibility than those located in other countries. The study also found the interaction of spatial and temporal distance framing effects were different based on consumers’ past purchase experience. The findings suggest how airlines should design messages and refine them based on consumers’ past experience of aviation VCOs.
... In the early 1990s marketers often used environmentally-based corporate social responsibility messages to highlight an organisation's "green" credentials and demonstrate that the firm was a responsible corporate citizen. Unfortunately, some unscrupulous marketers engaged in "greenwashing" campaigns where they strategically misled consumers through deceptive promotional campaigns and product positioning to believe that the firm engaged in virtuous environmental practices ( De Jong et al., 2018;Polonsky et al., 2010 ). As social issues have become more diverse, so have the deceptive tactics of marketers including "black cladding" where a business deceptively "appears" to be minority-owned ( Burrell, 2015;Hudson, 2016 ) and disingenuous appeals that focus on gay rights ( Stark, 2015 ). ...
The present study applies Pope and Wæraas’ (2016) CSR-washing conceptual framework in a social media context using the recent case involving Streets ‘Pleasure is Diverse’ campaign and the Australian marriage amendment. Sentiment analysis examined the posts to Unilever's Magnum ice-cream campaign. We applied the framework's five conditions, and the findings indicated support for the operationalisation of Pope and Wæraas’ (2016) washing framework. The findings suggest that consumer sentiments in this case of causal ambush marketing had four general themes: (1) Supportive Advocates; (2) Anti-Advocates; (3) Moral Detractors; (4) Sceptics.
... Massaglia et al., [59] proved that consumers require detailed labels to easily recognize sustainable food production i.e., animal welfare. Sometimes, the information provided by labeling is not very clear: e.g., Gadema and Oglethorpe [60] and Hartikainen et al., [61] evidenced confusion among consumers reading carbon footprint labels, Bollani et al., [51] underlined lesser knowledge of climate labels, Van Loo et al., [49] and Hartikainen et al., [61] showed lesser interest in carbon footprints, Polonsky et al., [62] evidenced doubts on carbon offset labels. Meanwhile, Vecchio and Annunziata [63] and Cholette et al., [64] highlighted the importance of identifying consumers interested in food sustainability in order to obtain real benefits. ...
The aim of this study is to analyze the perception of the meaning of sustainability in the food sector. A sample of 268 University students belonging to the Millennial generation was identified and a survey was carried out to assess the interaction between this kind of Millennials and food sustainability. Collected data were explored with descriptive statistics, followed by multivariate statistical techniques to get an integrated vision of relationships among the variables. Outcomes evidence four groups of Millennials with specific peculiarities, i.e., “Socio-Nature Sensitives”, characterized by a high level of attention for the socio-economic dimension and sustainable ways of food production; “Info-Supporter”, very sensitive to labeling and warranty systems; “Proactive-Oriented”, interested in innovative activities; “Indifferent Millennials”, assigning the issue in general a low level of importance. Results provide useful information and some contribution to public institutions and private stakeholders so as to implement new rules and new tools in the food sector, so as to reach the target of reducing waste and pollution. Substantial literature on interaction between Millennials and sustainability in the food sector has not yet been developed; the aim of this pioneer study is to offer some contribution to the debate among stakeholders on driving choices towards new consumption rules and production patterns.
... Even many consumers believe that the green claim is nothing but a marketing strategy to allure (Lyon & Maxwell, 2011). Greenwashing is serious issue as this may impact the trust of consumers towards real green products (Polonsky et al., 2010). Studies have exclaimed that companies need to decline the greenwash behaviour to escalate consumers' green brand equity which further depends upon green brand image and green satisfaction (Chen et al., 2016). ...
This study aims to find out, if a credible celebrity may impact the positioning of fake green
claims. Researcher hypothesises that expertise, trustworthiness and attractiveness positively
relates to greenwashing. The data was collected using convenient sampling from the
respondents of India. Sample consisted of 175 respondents of India. The data was analysed
using regression analysis through SPSS. Results suggest that expertise, trustworthiness and
attractiveness positively relates to greenwashing. Trustworthiness is not a significant
predictor of greenwashing but expertise and attractiveness are significant predictors too.
Attractiveness is most prominent factor affecting the greenwash behaviour. From the point of
view of ethical behaviour, consumers can be befooled on the name of greenness by using the
persuasive power of celebrities. This not only downgrades the consumption of green products
by the consumer, but also harms the companies who rightfully sell green products. The
present study is one of the first, at least to the author’s knowledge to empirically examine and
confirm the influence of source credibility (expertise, trustworthiness and attractiveness) on
greenwashing
... Thus, customers worry about the contrast between image and reality, so they doubt the green claims [33,71]. Polonsky et al. [72] showed that greenwash brings fake green claims to the market and would lessen the popularity of real green products. Customers would disbelieve all green product ideas, and consequently the green movement would lack the support of stakeholders, enterprises, customers, and society as well as organizations who would bear reduction in the green consumption market share [32]. ...
Along with the acceleration of green marketing in recent years, greenwash has been utilized by firms to get ahead of their rivals. Underpinned by the cognition–affect–behavior (C-A-B) paradigm, this study examines a model linking greenwash and green skepticism with green purchase intentions. It also investigates the moderating role of information and knowledge on the relationship between greenwash and green purchase intentions. Data were obtained from 419 Vietnamese consumers who had been involved in purchasing green vegetables using an online survey. Multivariate data analysis demonstrated that greenwash was negatively associated with green purchase intentions and that green skepticism mediated this negative association. In addition, the moderating effect of information and knowledge was confirmed. These findings enrich the extant knowledge on the relationship between greenwash and green purchase intentions. They also have important implications for firms that aim to reduce consumers’ skepticism and increase their intentions to purchase green food.
... People's mistrust causes confusion and eventually results in a reduction in the quality of pro-environmental products [40]. The effects of greenwashing mean that pro-environmental information can lead consumers to hold off on their purchases of pro-environmental products [37,39,41]. ...
Recent increases in fine and ultrafine dust in South Korea have led to sharp increases in the sale of air purifiers, and that trend is expected to continue. As the sale of air purifiers increases, the energy that is consumed by air purifiers also increases. Therefore, improving the energy efficiency of air purifiers is an important part of improving the overall energy efficiency of society. We studied how different incentive policies affect consumer behavior because encouraging people to buy energy efficient air purifiers is important. We first investigated consumer preferences regarding air purifiers. Stated preference data were gathered from a choice experiment and a mixed logit model was used for the analysis. The results show that the most preferred attribute was price, followed by an eco-label. Based on that result, we conducted a scenario analysis to examine the economic and environmental effects of an incentive policy and eco-labeling. The monetary incentive policy increased the market share for air purifiers with a first-grade energy efficiency rating to 2.2%. The annual electricity use reduction was 5.9 GWh, with a CO2 emission reduction of 2520 tons and a policy monetary benefit of KRW 441,340,922 when we converted the effect of that market share change into economic and environmental terms. Eco-labeling also brought considerable change in the market share. These results provide a reference for implementing policies to encourage consumers to purchase energy efficient air purifiers.
... Greenwashing is a corporate green practice that used to promote the perception of a company's policies or products are environmentally friendly (Lewis, 2016;Shacklett, 2011), to generate strong environmental and social effect (Payne, 2018). Greenwashing may damage the market because it would cause consumers to distrust green products (Chen et al., 2014;Polonsky, Grau, & Garma, 2010) and negatively affected on consumers' attitudes and behaviors toward the organization's future claims (De Jong, Harkink, & Barth, 2018). The fact that companies act in the name of being greener, symbolize their efforts to become green, have started to threaten developing a sustainable economy. ...
... Greenwash is a term describing an advertising practice of companies that claim environmental functionality or sustainability of their products without particular evidence and clear information (Parguel, Benoit-Moreau, & Larceneux, 2011). Greenwash has been shown to cause customers to distrust the advertisement and eventually not purchase green products and be suspicious about them (Polonsky, Grau, & Garma, 2010). ...
The fashion industry is one of the most toxic industries, which has led luxury brands to get involved in their efforts to build a more sustainable fashion future. Although the current fashion industry has put efforts into introducing ethical and sustainable consumption, customers have displayed contradictory attitudes toward green products in the luxury sector. Specifically, customers have generally shown an interest in environmentally friendly apparel while many customers are also shown to be reluctant in purchasing sustainable fashion clothing. This study was aimed at analyzing key variables in regards to attitude towards sustainable fashion advertising for luxury brands. The results showed three statistically significant regression coefficients: Interdependent-self, independent-self, and perceived personal relevancy. In light of the previous discussion, this study also sheds more light into the construal-level influence based on the notion of self-construals on attitude toward sustainable fashion advertisement. Therefore, the results of this study provides empirical evidence for luxury fashion brands seeking to influence and increase green purchase behavior and this gives more insight into the decision making for luxury brand advertisement strategy.
... indications showing the amount of climate-changing emissions (carbon footprint label) by presenting in the label the quantity of equivalent CO 2 emitted in order to produce a specific unit of finished product; -indications referring to compliance with product specifications or with certain production rules aimed at reducing the environmental impact (production label), by presenting on the packaging trademarks or logos which should be recognized by product users; -indications referring to compensation activities directed at neutralizing climate-changing emissions generated by the production process (carbon offset label), by presenting on the packaging a logo which should recall these activities. Concerning usefulness of such communication tools, some observations have been raised: it is difficult to understand whether the principal obtainable benefit is environmental or economic (Kärnä et al., 2001;Lovell et al., 2009); one wonders which is, in practice, the consumers' perception of the indications appearing on packaging (Polonsky et al., 2010;Caputo et al., 2013;Hartikainen et al., 2014) which, as in the TESCO case, would lead to resizing projects designed for them (IIED, 2012). ...
European consumers are more and more showing the desire to evaluate how food products are sustainable in all their different aspects (environmental, social and economic) through the acquisition of various fundamentals like the origin of products or the distribution channels. Food operators try communicating different meanings of the sustainability idea to final consumers by integrating into labels information underlining some specificities of the production cycle, in order to evaluate potential environmental impacts. In this context, the present study aims at identifying - using a sample survey – students’ perception of the concept of sustainability and of the related labels used to communicate it. The results highlight that these instruments have reached the goal only in part.
... consequently enabling consumers to distrust green products (Polonsky et al., 2010). 7 ...
This study developed a model linking perceived greenwashing, green trust, intention to revisit, intention to participate, and intention to spread negative word of mouth, based on Attribution Theory and Trust-Based Marketing Theory. A self-report survey utilizing two real green hotel practice scenarios (towel reuse vs. energy saving sign) was initiated. Results suggest that perceived greenwashing had a significant negative influence on green trust, which in turn was positively associated with revisit intention and intention to participate in the green practice and negatively associated with negative word of mouth. Moreover, prior experience with green hotel was found to moderate the relationship between green trust and the three behavioral intentions such that the relationships are weaker for consumers with prior experience than for those without. However, the moderation only worked in the towel reuse scenario. Numerous implications for marketers and hotel operators are suggested.
... Tourists' perception of the programmes has been identified as a significant factor affecting WTP. A WTP tax could also be influenced by factors such as low credibility, confusion, complexity and low levels of transparency associated with the use of the generated taxation (Gössling et al., 2007;Juvan & Dolnicar, 2014;Polonsky, Grau, & Garma, 2010). Ample evidence has indicated that informing visitors why money is needed and where it will go is likely to positively affect their support for the fee-paying option and their WTP (Clawson & Knetsch, 1966;Eagles et al., 2002;Reiling, Criner, & Oltmanns, 1988). ...
... Growth in such schemes has, however, stimulated concerns regarding 'greenwashing', implying implementation is mainly symbolic and not robust enough to deliver timely decarbonisation (e.g. Polonsky et al., 2010;Wright and Nyberg, 2017). This concern is particularly addressed at schemes, including some 'natural solutions', that offset current GHG emissions through assumed future carbon sequestration (Baldocchi and Penuelas, 2019). ...
Climate change policy for the land sector is challenged by complex biophysical and socioeconomic contexts. A target approach utilising land-use change indicators is often used to quantify and communicate progress, based upon assumed greenhouse gas emission (GHG) reductions. This paper investigated areal targets for woodland expansion and peatland restoration, both of which can deliver substantial carbon sequestration benefits, with uptake typically supported by grant incentives. A case study used empirical data to investigate realisation of such targets in Scotland referenced against ambitious policy commitments (net-zero emissions by 2045). Analysis of actual locations for recent afforestation and peatland restoration, referenced against biophysical data, showed that new woodland primarily occurred on land that was marginal for agriculture, usually on wetter uncultivated semi-natural land, often on organic soils. This acts to constrain net carbon gains. Both peatland restoration and new woodland show tendency to aggregate in specific zones or locations, regardless of biophysical opportunities, highlighting underlying socioeconomic factors. Differential patterns of uptake are also shown by grant applications across different land use groups. Socioeconomic factors act against more ubiquitous uptake of incentive schemes, especially for new woodland on improved agricultural land, which will constrain long-term dec-arbonisation objectives unless tackled directly. Investigation therefore shows that use of simple targets (e.g. trees planted) as headline progress indicators can be misleading, potentially contributing to policy failure and misuse of carbon offsets. A more spatially targeted approach is required to maximise GHG reductions relative to local contexts. Recommendations are made for improved measures that recognise spatial and temporal variability, as exemplified by certification schemes.
... This identified why consumers can be sceptical about products that claim to be eco-friendly. Albayrak, Aksoy, and Caber (2013) refer to the work of Mohr, Ellen, and Eroglu (1998) Polonsky, Grau, and Garma (2010), in their study, found that companies who recently claim to be "greener" have done so by the use of a series of activities they call "greenwashing". ...
Existing research conducted on the purchase behaviour of consumers purchasing eco-friendly products has up until now been contradictory and presented mixed results. Studies conducted in the US, Europe, and Asia has shown widely varying patterns of behaviour amongst consumers of eco-friendly products. Therefore, generalisations about consumer behaviour for these products remains elusive. The ever changing demographics of customers who purchase eco-friendly products has also contributed to the complexity associated with identifying the consumers who are more likely to purchase these products. Consequently, Australian companies have not been able to effectively develop targeted strategies to market eco-friendly fast moving consumer goods (FMCGs) that cater specifically to the diverse consumer population of Australia. The aim of the thesis was firstly, to develop a profile of the consumer segment that is more likely to purchase eco-friendly FMCGs in the Australian context. Secondly, to identify the factors that influence the green product purchase intentions of those consumers. Addressing these objectives will allow marketing managers to develop more effective segmentation strategies that accordingly target the segment, and also to develop marketing strategies that take into account the influencing factors of consumer purchase intentions.
... Institutional stakeholders such as the European Community (EC) or the United States' Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are also increasingly involved in matters of regulation. Some have argued that greenwashing not only misleads consumers per se, but may also contribute to slowing the worldwide movement towards sustainable consumption by (a) discouraging sincere companies' efforts to go green when others do just window-dressing communication (Cherry and Sneirson 2011) and (b) guiding truly conscious consumers towards non-optimal choice (Chen and Chang 2013;Gillespie 2008;Polonsky, Grau, and Garma 2010). ...
... The same cognitive heuristics and biases are likely to also apply to carbon offsetting. Barriers to the uptake of carbon offsetting fall into two categories; lack of knowledge and awareness (Chang, Shon, and Lin 2010;Gössling et al. 2009;McKercher et al. 2010) and the public perception that offsetting schemes lack credibility and are confusing and intransparent (Broderick 2008;Gössling et al. 2007;Polonsky, Grau, and Garma 2010;Higham et al. 2016). Decision-making theory and collective action theory have not been specifically tested in past research relating to aviation emissions reduction. ...
While transportation currently accounts for 23% of total global energy-related CO2 emissions, transport emissions are projected to double by 2050, driven significantly by continued high growth in global passenger demand for air travel. Addressing high growth in aviation emissions is critical to climate stabilization. Currently we rely on individual decisions to forego air travel as the means of reducing these high-risk emissions. In this paper we argue that encouraging voluntary responses to such risks cannot succeed because of the nature of human reason and the structure of the problem itself. We use decision-making theory to explore why individuals have been generally unwilling or unable to act upon these risks, and collective action theory to illustrate the futility of relying on uncoordinated actors in such cases. Participation in the high-carbon air travel regime is a social convention, and transition from social conventions requires coordination among players. Our theoretical discussions lead us to conclude that it is our moral duty to promote coordinated collective action, via national or global policy mechanisms, to address tourist aviation emissions. We offer various avenues of future research to advance this moral duty.
... The concept of green washing was first used by American environmental activist Jay Westerveld in 1986 [1].Green washing is mainly promoted through advertisements which show claims that are untrue, overlook specific information about validity of the claims or a combination of these [12].Green washing is a perilous practice as the organisations promoting it are unable to validate their green practices [13], which may influence the faith of the consumers towards genuine green products [14]. Green washing is intentionally hiding negative information and projecting the positive information about products in order to maintain a positive corporate image [8].It is a deliberate attempt initiated by companies which includes a selective information disclosure decision which are often advantageous for the companies but unsafe for the society. ...
... The taxes and/or public fees that are considered in this work include almost all of the previously studied dimensions, so a global analysis can be performed for the WTP of the tourist demand in distinct touristic contexts, which, until now, have only been examined in an individual manner. [71,72] Source: author's own creation. ...
The maturity of the tourism destinations, along with the sector’s growing competitiveness and evolving tourist habits, demands the implementation of a series of strategies to increase the sustainability of these destinations while improving the tourism experience. Therefore, the imposition of taxes and/or fees on distinct tourism activities has become a viable option for the financing of these policies. The objective of this study is to determine the amounts of taxes and/or public fees that tourists appear to be more willing to pay in order to improve the sustainability and experience of the mature tourism destination. It also attempts to identify the factors that determine tourists’ willingness to pay. The study was carried out in Andalusia, a prominently touristic region of southern Spain, which received 32.4 million tourists in 2019. To do so, a survey was conducted on 1068 tourists at the main tourism arrival points of this region. First, the results identify the dimensions of taxes and/or public fees that tourists are more willing to pay, linked to environmental factors and tourism services. Second, the following factors were found to influence the tourists’ willingness to pay these taxes: the purpose of the trip, income, budget and place of origin.
... Some oppose the commodification of carbon altogether, considering it morally objectionable (Collard and Dempsey 2013, Leggett and Lovell 2012, Page 2013, Stephan and Paterson 2012, or believe it will lead to decisions made based on carbon, or profits, alone, without consideration of local livelihoods or equity (Benessaiah 2012, Corbera and Brown 2010, Kosoy and Corbera 2010. Others fear that market-based approaches to conservation, and especially offsets may lead to 'green-washing' with companies justifying large emissions in other sectors by marginal reductions through forestry and other land use activities (Pearse 2012, Polonsky and Garma 2008, Polonsky et al 2010. ...
Revenues derived from carbon have been seen as an important tool for supporting forest conservation over the past decade. At the same time, there is high uncertainty about how much revenue can reasonably be expected from land use emissions reductions initiatives. Despite this uncertainty, REDD+ projects and conservation initiatives that aim to take advantage of available or, more commonly, future funding from carbon markets have proliferated. This study used participatory multi-stakeholder workshops to develop divergent future scenarios of land use in eight landscapes in four countries around the world: Peru, Indonesia, Tanzania, and Mexico. The results of these future scenario building exercises were analyzed using a new tool, CarboScen, for calculating the landscape carbon storage implications of different future land use scenarios. The findings suggest that potential revenues from carbon storage or emissions reductions are significant in some landscapes (most notably the peat forests of Indonesia), and much less significant in others (such as the low-carbon forests of Zanzibar and the interior of Tanzania). The findings call into question the practicality of many conservation programs that hinge on expectations of future revenue from carbon finance. The future scenarios-based approach is useful to policy-makers and conservation program developers in distinguishing between landscapes where carbon finance can substantially support conservation, and landscapes where other strategies for conservation and land use should be prioritized.
... Clearly, not all tourists traveling to Andalusia are willing to pay to improve their tourism experience, or to contribute to increased sustainability in Andalusia, as a tourism destination; in fact, one out of every four tourists interviewed demonstrated their rejection to pay any tax and/or public fee imposed by the tourism activity. Therefore, in light of this results, it is possible that this situation may be due to a lack of trust, information and/or transparency in terms of public management and the ultimate destination of the collected quantities, as stated in other past works, such as those by Juvan and Dolnicar (2014) or Polonsky et al. (2010). ...
Consolidated tourism destinations face certain challenges derived from aspects such as new client demands, growing competition, the problems of overtourism and tourism-phobia, and the modernization of infrastructures. The creation of taxes and/or public fees that affect tourism activities is one potential option for public managers facing these difficulties.
The objective of this study is to determine tourists’ willingness to pay in order to increase the income of public managers to create these types of policies. The study was carried out in Andalusia, a region of southern Spain with high rates of tourism, which received some 32.4 million tourists in 2019. A survey was conducted on 1068 tourists at the main tourism arrival points of this region.
First, factors influencing the willingness and amount to be paid by each tourist were identified; for this, distinct statistical techniques were used (binary logistic regression and decision trees). Second, the sensitivity of tourism demand was analyzed with regard to the establishment of these types of taxes and public fees, concluding that tourism demand is inelastic in the face of a moderate increase in prices resulting from the creation of taxes and/or public fees.
... Un nombre significatif de recherches s'est attelé à démontrer le rôle important des services de vérification dans l'amélioration de la crédibilité découlant d'un manque de confiance dans les données déclarées sur la RSE, et dans la sincérité et la fiabilité sous-jacente des sociétés déclarantes (Brown-Liburd et Zamora, 2015 ;Casey et Grenier, 2015 ;Cohen et Simnett, 2015 ;Junior et al., 2014 ;Perego et Kolk, 2012 ;O'Dwyer, 2011 ;Pflugrath et al., 2011 ;Kolk et Perego, 2010 ;Manetti et Becatti, 2009 ;Perego, 2009 ;Simnett et al., 2009 ;Park et Brorson, 2005). Plus spécifiquement, certaines considèrent la vérification comme un outil efficace de lutte contre le greenwashing et l'écoblanchiment (Lyon et Maxwell, 2011 ;Polonsky et al., 2010). ...
While audit firms have traditionally been active in the control of accounting data, they are increasingly offering their services in other spheres, even though these are far from financial concerns. This is the case of the CSR Assurance market, which has been dominated by the accounting industry (and in particular the Big Four) for twenty years. Despite the efforts made by these professionals to institutionalize the CSR Assurance practice and legitimize their place, some researchers do not hesitate to question some of the "sacred cows" of auditing (Andon et al., 2015). Thus, this thesis seeks to gain a more detailed understanding of how financial auditors experience their legitimacy in this new field, even more when excluded from the Big Four elite. As a former financial auditor, I spent nine months working for two non-Big audit firms offering CSR auditing services in France between 2018 and 2019. Surprisingly, the data analysis highlights auditors with a strong need for their legitimacy recognition (Honneth, 2006) despite French political support, resulting at the individual level in a deep search for meaningfulness. Thus, it nuances the auditors' utilitarian image, still predominant in the academic literature. This doctoral work questions the desirability of the current audit system, driven by liberalism and transposed to CSR, generating strong disillusionment among professionals sensitive to CSR, likely to push them to disengage. The conversion of the audit function into an advisory function finally appears to be an effective means for these professionals to struggle for their recognition, and to compete with the Big Four.
Keywords: CSR Assurance, Recognition, Auditors, Meaningful work, Social closure.
... Further, Kalafatis et al. (1999) found that some companies promote new products with misleading green claims (greenwashing), which reduces consumer trust and lowers purchase intention. Additionally, Polonsky et al. (2010) argued that carbon offset marketing and messages are potentially misleading and may erode consumer trust and confidence in green products. According to Chen and Chang (2012, p. 516), "firms should incorporate their environmental mission into their business strategies rather than to only promote their green products." ...
Through corporate social responsibility, tourism companies can contribute to sustainable development by embracing concepts such as low‐carbon tourism and environmental protection. The purpose of this research was to determine the intention of Taiwanese travel agencies to promote low‐carbon tours by incorporating government‐approved eco‐friendly travel products. In total, 427 valid questionnaires were collected and examined by means of PLS‐SEM. The findings showed that green trust not only had a significant and direct impact on intentions to sell low‐carbon tours, but also influenced agency attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. The study also demonstrated that the TPB was appropriate for predicting intentions for green decision‐making at an organizational level and that subjective norms (e.g., peers, customers) influenced by green trust displayed more predictive strength (53.4%). The findings provide a method for incorporating low‐carbon tourism into the travel industry.
... However, there is a trend in the literature on the opposite side of green marketing since, as a consequence of the concept, consumers are discovering the opportunistic advantages that companies have towards these environmental advantages [18]. In this sense, companies that promote their products using the support of the environment have apparently become "greener" in recent years [19]. As a result of all of the above, the concept of "greenwashing" appears, which was first used by Jay Westerveld in the 1980s, with most researchers in the field agreeing with what was said earlier, that companies are becoming "greener" [20][21][22][23][24]. ...
The work aims to achieve a better understanding of firms’ green strategy, and specifically, in the false green strategy called greenwashing, and the relationships between greenwashing (GW) and behaviour intention (BI), and how this relationship is affected by word of mouth (WOM) and corporative social responsability (CRS). A survey was conducted and 198 valid and complete online questionnaires were collected from users of urban mobility apps (Blablacar and Amovens) in Spain. The structural equation modeling technique partial least squares (PLS-SEM) was used to test the proposed research model and hypothesized relationships. The results of our study indicate that the direct relationship between GW and BI is not supported, although the indirect relationship through WOM and CRS is significant, so that both become mediating variables of the GW and BI relationship. The paper also analyzes the direct relationships between GW, CRS, WOM and BI, so that the direct effects GW and CRS; CRS and WOM; and WOM and BI are significant. This empirical study analyzes the effect of GW, which has not been studied much, especially in empirical research. The study analyzes several variable consequences of GW and analyzes mediating effects of CRS and WOM on the GW and BI relationship. The study also includes two behavioral indicators, WOM and BI, in a research model, and, additionally, the study demonstrates the relationship between GW and perceived CRS.
... Moreover, in addition to representing a voluntary governance intervention, the <IR> framework does not require companies to account for all the capitals (International Integrated Reporting Council, 2013). Using the materiality concept, a company may, therefore, only report on those capitals that it wants to, increasing the risk of "greenwash", with companies selectively disclosing capitals with positive environmental and societal performance, whilst concealing adverse performance (Alves, 2009;Delmas and Burbano, 2011;Polonsky et al., 2010). Stakeholders, such as senior employees and trade unions, have raised concern about the exclusion of the IIRC's initial proposal requiring companies to disclose the reason(s) why any omitted capital(s) were not considered material, as advocated by the "apply or explain" approach (Huggins and Simnett, 2015). ...
Purpose
Despite initially being lauded as a revolutionary approach for companies to account to all stakeholders, the shareholder orientation of the international integrated reporting ( ) framework gave rise to questions about whether integrated reports would still sufficiently disclose pertinent corporate social responsibility (CSR) information. This paper aims to investigate the extent to which the framework has impacted the CSR disclosures contained in integrated reports of South African mining companies.
Design/methodology/approach
The study deployed a mixed methods research approach, involving thematic content analysis of the CSR disclosures contained in the integrated reports of mining companies with primary listings on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The resultant qualitative data were subsequently analysed using a T -test of difference.
Findings
The study observes that the release of the framework appears to have had a limited impact on the CSR disclosures in the integrated reports of most companies included in the study. However, where significant differences were identified, the CSR disclosures of some companies were positively impacted after the release of the framework, whilst others were negatively impacted.
Research limitations/implications
As South Africa is acknowledged as a leader in the global movement, the paper’s observations have global relevance and suggest that the fundamental principles of should be reconsidered to improve the alignment with stakeholders’ information needs, as originally conceived.
Originality/value
Despite the shareholder orientation of the framework, the global mining industry is acknowledged as being at the forefront of implementing CSR interventions to mitigate the adverse impacts of their operations on stakeholders, supporting a stakeholder orientation. As the adoption of continues to gain traction around the world, this paper’s contribution is that it represents one of the few papers to use the global reporting initiative G4 indicators to specifically examine the impact of framework on the CSR disclosures on the South African mining industry, where both and CSR reporting are quasi-mandatory disclosure requirements.
... For example, Shabana and Ravlin (2016) report that public CSR disclosure is becoming an expectation for public corporations and an increasingly important driver of corporate reputation. However, studies on impression management (Mansurov, 2020;Wang, 2016), greenwashing (Polonsky et al., 2010) and CSR-washing (Pope and Waeraas, 2016) suggest that some corporations will intentionally use obfuscation to present the most favorable impression of the organization, its values and its actions. Corporations that embellish their commitment to environmental social and environmental investing (ESG) values create shareholder expectations of corporate behavior that may be very difficult to satisfy. ...
Purpose
This study aims to explore if corporations that publicly disclose more information about their managerial values are also more organizationally authentic in enacting these values.
Design/methodology/approach
A maturity model of managerial values is used that ordinally ranks a corporation’s level of managerial values enactment using corporate annual reports. The samples of corporations’ corporate reports are qualitatively content analyzed, and the outcomes are statistically tested.
Findings
The findings indicate that as an organization voluntarily discloses more information about its corporate values, it tends to be more likely to enact their espoused values, and their corporation’s level of organizational authenticity increases.
Originality/value
This study suggests an approach to benchmark a corporation’s level of organizational authenticity using public information, and by doing so, contributes to both policy and practice by offering a framework to compare organizational authenticity between public corporations by their sector, size or the age of the corporation.
... These schemes aim at mitigating the impact of emissions by supporting the reduction in other sectors and by inciting airlines to reduce their emissions. However, this offsetting approach might not be effective to mitigate the impact of the emissions [20,21]; the air transport sector's share of emissions continues to proportionally increase with respect to other sectors, which can decarbonise easier. ...
Recently, there has been much interest in measuring the environmental impact of short-to-medium-haul flights. Emissions of CO2 are usually measured to consider the environmental footprint, and CO2 calculators are available using different types of approximations. We propose analytical models calculating gate-to-gate CO2 emissions and travel time based on the flight distance and on the number of available seats. The accuracy of the numerical results were in line with other CO2 calculators, and when applying an analytical fitting, the error of interpolation was low. The models presented the advantage with respect to other calculators of being sensitive to the number of available seats, a parameter generally not explicitly considered. Its applicability was shown in two practical examples where emissions and travel time per kilometre were calculated for several European routes in a simple and efficient manner. The model enabled the identification of routes where rail would be a viable alternative both from the emissions and total travel time perspectives.
... Critics have implicated nature marketisation and associated changes in resource governance in broader trends in 'Greenwashing' by polluting firms (Polonsky et al. 2010). They have also been associated with resource grabs, particularly 'blue grabbing' and 'green grabbing', in which environmental agendas and national development interests drive large scale appropriation of marine or terrestrial resources from customary control of local resource users and re-allocate resource rights and rights to benefits to ostensibly more efficient user groups (Fairhead et al. 2012;Blomley et al. 2013;Dunlap and Fairhead 2014;Scoones et al. 2013;Wolford et al. 2013). ...
... Furthermore, this study contributes to the tourism and environmental consumption literature by identifying the direct impact of source and brand credibility on consumers' purchase intentions of environmental products. Given that public skepticism exists in messages and claims promoted by environmental producers and suppliers (Polonsky, Grau, and Garma 2010), it is important to understand how effective communication with consumers can improve the adoption of more environmentally conscious consumption. ...
Airlines have introduced voluntary carbon offsetting (VCO) products to encourage consumers to mitigate emissions from their air travel. However, literature has suggested a low VCO adoption partly because of low perceived credibility. This study investigates the impact of source credibility (expertise and trustworthiness) on air travelers’ purchase intention for aviation VCO products. This is the first study to conceptualize and test the influence of source credibility on air travelers’ carbon offsetting behavior using communication theory. Source credibility of a message directly influences air travelers’ purchase intention of aviation VCO products in a positive way. Examining source credibility components shows that trustworthiness has a significant positive impact on purchase intention, while the impact of expertise is not significant. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed, which highlight the importance of improving source credibility, and trustworthiness in particular, to encourage consumers to mitigate air travel emissions.
This paper discusses the influence of firms’ greenwash on their consumers’ green purchase behaviour and explores the mediation roles of their green brand image and their consumers’ green brand loyalty. This study focuses on Taiwanese consumers who have purchase experience of green products. This study uses structural equation modelling (SEM) to obtain empirical results. The results demonstrate that firms’ greenwash negatively influences their consumers’ green purchase behaviour. Besides, this research proves that firms’ greenwash is negatively related to both their green brand image and their consumers’ green brand loyalty that would positively affect their consumers’ green purchase behaviour. This paper also verifies that firms’ green brand image and their consumers’ green brand loyalty partially mediate the negative relationship between their greenwash and their consumers’ green purchase behaviour. It means that firms’ greenwash does not only have a direct negative effect on their consumers’ green purchase behaviour, but also has an indirect negative effect on it via their green brand image and their consumers’ green brand loyalty. Thus, this research suggests that firms should decrease their greenwash behaviours and increase their green brand image and their consumers’ green brand loyalty to enhance their consumers’ green purchase behaviour.
Voluntary offset investments provide the opportunity to compensate for the ecological consequences of consumption. Despite this opportunity, many entities do not purchase offset investments. We provide an overview of alternative carbon and biodiversity offset investments. We characterize the marketplace conditions, benefits, and constraints operating in the markets for voluntary carbon and biodiversity offset investments. We subsequently outline research implications inherent to these markets.
Tüketicilerin tüketim tercih süreçlerine dair geliştirilen ve popülerliğini halen koruyan modellerden biri olan tüketim değerleri modeline göre tüketicilerin ürün tercihlerini; fonksiyonel, sosyal, koşullara bağlı, duygusal ve epistemik olmak üzere beş farklı değer etkilemektedir. Kendilerini ve ürünlerini çevreci olarak konumlandırmayı tercih eden, ancak gerektiği kadar sorumlu davranmayan işletmelerin, tüketicilerinin beklentilerini olumsuz yönde etkiledikleri düşünülmektedir. Bu araştırma ile amaçlanan; tüketicilerin, reklamlardaki yeşile boyamaya yönelik algılarının, onların yeşil tüketim değerlerinde farklılaşmaya yol açıp açmadığının ortaya konulmasıdır. Bu doğrultuda yapılan araştırmada olasılığa dayalı olmayan örnekleme yöntemlerinden biri olan kartopu örnekleme yöntemi kullanılmış olup Gümüşhane ilinde yaşayan ve yeşil tüketim yaptığını belirten 179 katılımcıya ulaşılmıştır. Elde edilen bulgular, "yeşile boyama" algı dereceleri açısından tüketicilerin anlamlı iki kümeye ayrıldıklarını göstermektedir. Öte yandan, bu ayrışmanın benzer şekilde onları yeşil tüketime güdüleyen fonksiyonel, duygusal, epistemik ve sosyal değerlerde hayat bulduğu, ancak koşullu değerde gerçekleşmediği tespit edilmiştir.
Abstract
According to the consumption values model, which is one of the models developed for the consumption preference processes of consumers and which still maintains its popularity, five different values which are functional, social, conditional, emotional and epistemic, affect the product preferences of consumers. It is thought that businesses that prefer to position themselves and their products as environmentalists but do not behave as responsible as necessary, negatively affect the expectations of their consumers. The purpose of this research is to find out whether consumers' perceptions about greenwashing in advertising lead to any differentiation in their green consumption values or not. In this research, snowball sampling method, which is one of the non-probability sampling methods, was used and 179 participants living in Gümüşhane province who stated that they have made green consumption were reached. The findings show that consumers are divided into two meaningful clusters in terms of their "greenwashing" perception levels. On the other hand, it was found that this divergence came to life in the functional, emotional, epistemic and social values that drive them to green consumption, but not in the conditional value.
Carbon offset programs and carbon taxes have not been introduced to China’s aviation sector, but may be implemented in the coming decade. This research surveys Chinese university students to understand the factors associated with their willingness to participate in and pay for voluntary carbon offsets and compulsory taxes for domestic and international travel. Our survey subjects represent the future frequent flyers and a generation likely to be impacted the most by global warming. We find that their willingness to pay (WTP) for carbon emissions reduction is positively related to income, levels of environmental concern and trust in the carbon offsetting/reduction projects. Females tend to have a higher WTP than males. The intention to contribute during the Covid-19 pandemic was lower. The mean WTP for the voluntary offsetting regime for domestic travel is approximately 36.33 yuan, whereas the mean WTP for domestic travel under the compulsory regime is about 28.65 yuan. For international travel, these two figures are 45.37 yuan and 71.70 yuan, respectively.
We assess the communications of 37 airlines on their own websites regarding voluntary carbon offsets (VCO) to determine the extent to which they are either trustworthy or misleading. We propose an innovative coding framework that captures the trustworthy or misleading attributes of the messages as they are applied to: i) the type of claim (product, process, fact or image), and ii) the nature of the claim (fibbing, hidden trade-off, no proof, vagueness, irrelevance, lesser of two evils or worshiping false labels). We deploy a quantitative, multi-method approach that combines content analysis and discrete choice modelling, and we corroborate the taxonomy developed with lexical analysis. We identify the various factors that affect the pattern of 56% of claims being trustworthy and 44% being misleading. We demonstrate how a combined study of the trustworthy or misleading characteristics of communications provides more learning opportunities than studying either individually.
Introducing or advertising different brands in the market in a way that is different from reality by means of green, environmentally friendly, harmless means that it affects the consumer psychologically. This misinformation has a negative effect on the confidence of the companies that act ethically in this regard, as well as harming the confidence of consumers and the multitude of environmental claims that do not reflect reality. For this reason, it is very important to distinguish real environmentalism and fake environmental activities. The aim of this study is to understand what greenwash means, to raise awareness on environmental awareness and to determine the effects of greenwash on brand equity for consumers. The main mass of the study consists of automobile owners living in the city of Erzurum. As a sampling method, convenience sampling method was used from random sampling methods. Data were collected by face to face survey method. A total of 500 questionnaires were applied; as a result of the elimination of missing, incorrect and faulty surveys, 408 questionnaires were taken into consideration. The research data obtained as a result of the survey were analyzed with structural equation model. As a result of the study, greenwash has negative effect on green trust, green satisfaction and green perceived quality; green trust, green satisfaction and green perceived quality have positive effects on word-of-mouth and also word-of-mouth has positive effect on brand equity.
Günümüzde çevre sorunlarından kaynaklanan tehditler, küresel düzeyde artan
bir duyarlılığı da beraberinde getirmektedir. Üretim, tüketim ve yatırım kararlarının çevre
hassasiyetleri doğrultusunda yeniden şekillendiği bu dönemde, işletmelerin ve ürünlerin
çevresel performansına ilişkin etiket ve raporlama girişimlerinin sayısı ve çeşitliliği
artarken, işletmelerin kasıtlı olarak çevresel etkileri veya faydaları hakkında aldatıcı bir
izlenim verdikleri ‘yeşil yıkama’ uygulamalarında da bir artış olduğu gözlemlenmektedir.
Yeşil ve döngüsel ekonomiye geçiş hedefi doğrultusunda Avrupa Yeşil Mutabakatı ve
2020 tarihli Döngüsel Ekonomi Eylem Planı altında birbiriyle bağlantılı pek çok girişimi
başlatan Avrupa Birliği’nde (AB), Yeşil İddiaların Doğrulanması Girişimi ile işletmelerin ve
ürünlerin çevresel performansına ilişkin bilgilerin AB genelinde güvenilir, karşılaştırılabilir
ve doğrulanabilir olması, yeşil yıkama ile mücadele edilmesi ve aldatıcı iddiaların önüne
geçilmesi hedeflenmektedir. Bu alanda son gelişme ise, Komisyon tarafından 30 Mart
2022 tarihinde açıklanan yeni döngüsel ekonomi paketinde yeni tüketici haklarının
getirilmesini ve yeşil yıkamanın yasaklanmasını öngören düzenleme önerisi olmuştur.
Ulusal düzeyde de parlamentoların, hükümetlerin, kamu kurumları ile denetim ve gözetim otoritelerinin önemli sorumluluklar üstlenmesi gereken bir alanda atılacak adımların
Türkiye için de önemli avantajlar sağlayacağı; yeşil ticarette rekabeti sürdürebilmesi ve
yeşil dönüşüm hedefini gerçekleştirebilmesine katkı sağlayacağı açıktır. AB tarafından
başlatılan girişimin kapsamını ve olası etkilerini inceleyen bu çalışma, temel olarak bu
girişimle güçlenecek olan yeşil yıkama ile mücadelenin yeşil dönüşümü ve sürdürülebilirliği sağlamada üstleneceği rolleri değerlendirmektedir.
EXTENDED ABSTRACT Today, threats arising from environmental problems bring about an increased sensitivity at the global level. In this period where production, consumption, and investment decisions have been reshaped in line with the environmental sensitivities, the number and the variety of labels and reporting initiatives regarding the environmental performances of businesses and products have increased. Not surprisingly, as ‘green sells well, there has also been an observed increase in ‘greenwashing’ practices, where businesses deliberately give deceptive impressions about their environmental impacts or benefits, creating an increased consumer and investor skepticism for green products and green businesses. Also, greenwashing misleads market actors and does not give due advantage to those companies that are making the effort to green their products and activities. Ultimately, greenwashing constitutes an important barrier for transition to a green economy. To tackle this issue, the European Green Deal states “Companies making ‘green claims’ should substantiate these against a standard methodology to assess their impact on the environment”. In 2020, the Commission announced several interlinked initiatives under the Circular Economy Action Plan, including an initiative to combat greenwashing and substantiate green claims. This study focuses on the ‘Initiative on Substantiating Green Claims’, addresses the problem of greenwashing and examines the scope and possible effects of the initiative, and discusses the role of the initiative and green transition in ensuring sustainability. The ‘Initiative on Substantiating Green Claims’ aims to ensure that information regarding the environmental performance of businesses and products are reliable, comparable, and verifiable across the EU, while it also aims to deal with deceptive claims and greenwashing practices. Providing reliable information on environmental impacts is crucial under the scope of the new EU legislation such as the EU Taxonomy Regulation as well. Hence, the use of standard methodologies for environmental footprint calculations stands out more. As of 30 March 2022, the latest development has been the announcement of a new circular economy package by the Commission, which puts ‘sustainable products’ in the center. Through this package, the Commission also tabled a legislative proposal to empower consumers in the green transition, which introduces targeted amendments to horizontal EU consumer law to provide enhanced protection against greenwashing practices along with better information on product durability and repairability. Moreover, the environmental impacts and sustainability features of products along the value chains would be provided in digital product passports within the scope of the ‘Sustainable Product Policy Initiative’. In addition, the Commission is working on proposing more specific rules on green claims relying on the product and organization’s environmental footprint methods, with adoption planned in autumn 2022. It is desired that consumers remain active proponents of this green transition in the EU, and all these rules are envisaged to prevent deceptive information and greenwashing. As misleading and vague claims are prohibited, more reliable and truly eco-friendly products and businesses will come to the fore instead of products and businesses ‘acting as if green’. Conscious consumers will be able to choose products that are really better in terms of environmental performance and impacts; products with longer life and non-toxic features; products that consume less energy, create less waste, and products that are more recyclable. Similarly, investments would be directed to the right businesses, and so green businesses will have a competitive advantage. Hence, through these efforts, an impetus is expected for green transition. On the other hand, no matter how environmental-friendly the products are, if the industry continues to grow in terms of investment and consumption, this time through the promotion of the green products, environmental pressure will continue in the long run and the impact of these efforts will be limited in terms of sustainability. To sum up, while the Initiative on Substantiating Green Claims is promising in terms of transforming consumption patterns in a more sustainable direction, it is crucial that the rate of production and consumption must be slowed down for sustainability; otherwise, a vicious circle will continue under the ‘green’ image of the system, in which economic sustainability overtakes environmental sustainability.
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