Can evoking nature in advertising mislead consumers? An emperical research of greenwash in Vietnam

Abstract

Along with the acceleration of green marketing in the last few years, greenwashing practices have been utilised by firms to outdistance their competitors. Despite the considerable attention given to green marketing, little research has been conducted to explore consumers' perspective on greenwashing and its associated consequences. Therefore, to gain an extensive and thorough knowledge regarding greenwashing and its influence on consumers' green attitude, this study introduce the green consumer confusion, perceived consumer skepticsm and brand image variables into the models using the Theory of Cognitive Dissonance as the theoretical foundation. Data were obtained from 316 Vietnamese consumers who had been involved in purchasing green products using an online survey and structural equation modeling was employed to analyze those data. The findings demonstrate that greenwash had an adverse effect on green purchase intentions and that green confusion, consumer skepticism and green trust partially mediated this negative association. In addition, the moderating effect of brand image was confirmed. These findings therefore enrich the extant knowledge in the field of greenwash and consumer behaviour. Managerial applications are also recommended for firms to promote their green products without indulging in greenwashing.