Greenwashing and public demand for government regulation

Abstract

Environmental governance in many high-income democracies relies to some extent on self-regulation by the private sector. Yet, this policy mode is contested and proponents of top-down government regulation argue that voluntary corporate sustainability commitments remain shallow and rarely are more than greenwashing. I assess to what extent firms’ business conduct is subject to societal checks and balances, in particular, whether public support for regulation constitutes a control mechanism of corporate contributions to environmental goods. I rely on an original survey experiment (N = 2112) conducted with a representative sample of the Swiss voting population. The analysis shows that accusing firms of greenwashing reduces both citizens’ perceived effectiveness of self-regulation and perceived synergy of corporate profits and environmental protection. However, this attitudinal shift only translates into modest updates in respondents’ policy preferences. As a result, short-run shifts in public support for regulation are an unlikely societal control mechanism of business conduct.

Greenwashing: Appearance, illusion and the future of ‘green’ capitalism

“…The confusing and contradictory landscape of corporate environmental certification has led to growing calls for strong government regulation to ensure that sustainability advertising and communication is accurate and reliable (Kolcava, 2023). To address this, the European Union has recently adopted a proposed new law (the Directive on Green Claims) that will require all businesses to evidence and justify all environmental claims made about their products or services.…”

The Effect of Sustainability Development Using the Example of Green Washing

“…It was found that political concepts that call for transparency on the part of companies are not sufficient to motivate companies to make deeper commitments with regard to environmental requirements. Measures such as monitoring and regulations in environmental policy (Kolcava, 2023).…”

“…Another factor can be dynamic inconsistency, which can lead to greenwashing if there is a discrepancy between the company's long-term environmental goals in the past and environmental sustainability in the present (Delmas & Burbano, 2011). If greenwashing is experienced by customers during shopping, the perception of risk leads 54.7% of consumers not to make a repeat purchase and the perception of confusion leads 63.4% of consumers not to make a repeat purchase (Kolcava, 2023).…”

Fenntarthatósági átmenet: kihívások és innovatív megoldások : Nemzetközi tudományos konferencia a Magyar Tudomány Ünnepe alkalmából

“…It was found that political concepts that call for transparency on the part of companies are not sufficient to motivate companies to make deeper commitments with regard to environmental requirements. Measures such as monitoring and regulations in environmental policy (Kolcava, 2023).…”

“…Another factor can be dynamic inconsistency, which can lead to greenwashing if there is a discrepancy between the company's long-term environmental goals in the past and environmental sustainability in the present (Delmas & Burbano, 2011). If greenwashing is experienced by customers during shopping, the perception of risk leads 54.7% of consumers not to make a repeat purchase and the perception of confusion leads 63.4% of consumers not to make a repeat purchase (Kolcava, 2023).…”