Perceived greenwashing: where does scepticism come from?

Greenwashing practices can lead to consumer scepticism and negative perceptions of green marketing claims. Perceived greenwashing refers to consumers' ability to detect greenwashing intentions in product advertisements. Hence, all companies and sectors need to better understand how their claims and corporate credibility affect consumers' perceptions. According to the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), this research investigates how consumer experience influences perceptions of a company's green claims, thereby influencing their willingness to pay. Based on a survey of 2426 participants, the results showed a significant positive relationship between consumers' experience and their perception of the company's green claims, leading to consumer scepticism. Results revealed that consumers have a high level of environmental consideration and are more willing to pay for eco-friendly products when they are less sceptical towards environmental claims and have enough insight regarding greenwashing tactics. Hence, when consumers have limited awareness or understanding of environmental issues and their own environmental experiences, they may be more susceptible to misleading practices by companies. As a main contribution of the research, this research used TPB to investigate the heterogeneous effectiveness of consumer experience on scepticism. Besides the concept of scepticism, this research added a new layer to TPB by indicating the role of positive experiences that can lead to a more favourable attitude, perceived social approval for trust, and perceived behavioural control by consumers. The results will offer novel ideas that highlight the concept of scepticism to environmental improvements, especially in the fashion industry.