Greenwashing and the purchase behavior toward electric motorbikes: The role of eco-literacy

Abstract

Nowadays, due to the increasing green trends, numerous businesses in the automobile industry adopt greenwashing as a primary strategy to appear environmentally conscious, despite their production processes like manufacturing lithium-ion batteries, which are causing significant environmental pollution. By combining three theories as signaling, legitimacy, and psychological contract, the study focuses on solving the previous research gaps when examining the influence of greenwashing (GW), green brand image (GBI), green skepticism (GS), green confusion (GC), perceived betrayal (PB), eco-literacy (EL) on the purchase intention (PI) towards electric motorbikes among Vietnamese consumers. The study employed a convenient random sampling method with a sample size of 535 consumers in Vietnam. A quantitative research method and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach were used to analyze the data using SmartPLS software. The findings reveal that GW significantly influences the PI, and GBI, GS, GC, and PB partial mediate the correlation. Additionally, the study discovered the significant moderating role of GW in the correlation between GW to PI, GW to GS, and GW to PB. Based on the findings, the managers can apply marketing strategies to encourage consumers’ purchase intention and avoid greenwashing activities. Then, the theoretical implications and directions for future research have been proposed.