How Green Trust, Consumer Brand Engagement and Green Word-of-Mouth Mediate Purchasing Intentions

Abstract

An increasing interest in environmental problems around the world has significantly expanded the demand for green goods, transforming green marketing into an effective tool for businesses to achieve competitive advantage. Yet, as more firms become aware of this strategic advantage, greenwashing activities can also flourish, and customers grow more cautious about green efforts by firms. The present research examines how greenwashing expectations of customers affect their green buying decisions by studying how green trust, consumer brand engagement and green word-of-mouth mediate this relationship. A total of 302 subjects participated in a survey to study greenwashing effects using a high involvement green ad and a low involvement green ad. Results were analyzed using a PLS-SEM approach. The findings show that the greenwashing expectations of customers have no direct effect on green purchase decisions, but that green trust and green word-of-mouth mediate this relationship. Likewise, greenwashing perception significantly affects customer brand engagement indirectly through green trust and there is a full mediation between greenwashing perception and green purchasing intention through green trust, customer brand engagement and green word of mouth. Therefore, the study shows that having a low perception of greenwashing is not enough to increase purchases. For that to occur, companies need to ensure that WOM communicates such efforts and that consumers trust these green initiatives.

The Nexus between Green Perceived Quality, Green Satisfaction, Green Trust, and Customers’ Green Behavioral Intentions in Eco-Friendly Hotels: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

“…Further, this finding agreed with the finding of Sultana et al’s study [ 91 ] which demonstrated that GT has a significant positive effect on customers’ intention to stay at green hotels in Bangladesh. Another study conducted by Guerreiro and Pacheco [ 74 ] concluded that GT is significantly correlated with GWoM and GPI. In their study, they argued that consumers are less likely to purchase or spread positive GWoM about a brand if they do not trust its green claims and/or actions.…”

“…The previous studies that have been built based on attitude-behavior relationships revealed that GT in the product/brand can subsequently enhance CGBIs such as GPI, GPI, GWoM intentions, premium purchase intentions, and loyalty behavioral intentions [ 36 , 37 , 72 , 73 , 74 ]. Research on green marketing has revealed the significance of GT in predicting GPIs [ 34 , 73 ].…”

Clean and green: the relevance of hotels' website quality and environmental management initiatives for green customer loyalty

“…Therefore, we hypothesize that green practices such as GT and GS will increase visitor numbers. The argument is supported by Guerreiro and Pacheco (2021) that GT significantly leads to consumers purchase intention. Moreover, customers trust boosts their confidence to purchase hotel services or products that improve customer loyalty (Mart ınez, 2015).…”

The Role of Consumer-Citizens and Connectedness to Nature in the Sustainable Transition to Agroecological Food Systems: The Mediation of Innovative Business Models and a Multi-Level Perspective

“…In response to the traditional approach of the role of consumers in the agri-food systems, several concepts and initiatives have been developed considering a more active role for both individual and collective consumers/citizens in the agri-food value chain. For instance, sustainable consumption has emerged in marketing scholarship as a pressing matter [67,69], followed by other initiatives, such as ethical consumption [70], responsible consumer behavior [71], reflexive consumption [72], green procurement/consumption [73] and green certification [74]. However, these initiatives have also narrowed the focus only on the consumption part of the agri-food value chain and the proposed solutions have focused on merely consumers rather than a systemic alternative that encompasses a broader context involving other stages of the value or supply chain.…”