IIM Lucknow Faculty Research Exposes The Risks of Greenwashing for Brands

Research conducted by Indian Institute of Management Lucknow Faculty explores how deceptive green marketing, also knows as greenwashing, can create a negative impact on the consumer trust, brand perception, and buying behaviour.

Conducted in collaboration with researchers from the University of Hail, Saudi Arabia, University of Turin, Italy, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Saudi Arabia, and Institute of Management Studies Ghaziabad, India, the research has been published in the prestigious journal Business Strategy and the Environment.

Greenwashing has become a common practice among brands to attract consumers, build a positive perception, and manipulate buying behaviour. Unlike earlier studies conducted, which were not able to assess how it can affect consumer attitude towards a brand, the research team bridged this gap by studying the psychology of how consumers interpret and react to greenwashing.

For the same, the team developed a framework using Attribution Theory and the Elaboration Likelihood Model. This framework, with an emphasis on “situational involvement”, meaning the degree of personal relevance a consumer assigns to environmental issues, helped in analysing “why” and “how” people react to greenwashing.

The research team tested the developed framework on 353 consumers from the United States of America and analysed the data using structural equation modelling, a method mostly used in the social and behavioural science fields.

Key findings of the study include:

• Greenwashing does not just fool people; it damages brand trust and discourages sustainable shopping.
• When consumers grow sceptical about a brand exaggerating or faking green credentials, their positive feelings about the brand drop
• People with greater environmental knowledge are more likely to critically assess eco-claims made by the brands, and react more strongly.

Conducted by Dr. Sushant Kumar from IIM Lucknow, Dr. Anis Ur Rehman from University of Hail, Dr. Rsha Alghafes from Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Dr. Laura Broccardo from University of Turin, and Dr. Ajay Kumar Patel from Institute of Management Studies (IMS) Ghaziabad, the study proves greenwashing is a risky marketing strategy and brands that aim to be truly sustainable must ensure transparency and honesty in their messaging.

The insights are valuable for businesses, regulators, and eco-conscious consumers alike, paving the way for more authentic green branding.

As the next step of the research, the team plans to explore several other aspects of consumer behaviour, such as the recommendation of a brand or product involved in greenwashing. The team also plans to study the consumers’ sentiments while consuming green brands and later discovering false claims by the brand.

Funding of this study was sponsored by Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. At the same time, free access to the journal article was facilitated by Università degli Studi di Torino, as part of the Wiley - CRUI-CARE agreement.