1.
Ragi P.
– Assistant Professor, Department of Commerce (Professional), Providence Women’s College (Autonomous), Calicut, Kerala; Research Scholar, Department of Commerce, St. Joseph’s College (Autonomous), Devagiri, Calicut, Kerala, India.
2.
Jasmine V. M.
– Assistant Professor and Research Supervisor, Department of Commerce, St. Joseph’s College (Autonomous), Devagiri, Calicut, Kerala, India.
Abstract
Consumers are increasingly concerned about the environmental problems that have led to the increased use of green marketing strategies by the companies, and the high usage of exaggerated environmental claims referred to as “greenwashing” also makes them so worried. The present study tries to examine the consumer awareness of greenwashing practices among eco-friendly products based on consumers’ perspectives, analyze the relationship between perceived greenwashing and brands’ credibility, and assess the impact of greenwashing on consumer trust towards eco-friendly product brands. Primary data was used for analysis, and the data was collected from 200 respondents using a structured questionnaire, and the statistical tools used such as reliability analysis, descriptive statistics, correlation and regression analysis were adopted using SPSS. The findings of the study represent
that consumers exhibit a relatively high level of
awareness regarding greenwashing practices. Reliability analysis confirmed that all constructs used in this study showcase acceptable to good internal consistency. Correlational analysis revealed a weak negative relationship between perceived greenwashing and brand credibility. Similarly, regression analysis showed that greenwashing has a weak and insignificant negative effect on consumer trust.
Keywords Brand credibility, Consumers perspective, Consumer trust, Greenwashing