搜索结果：Greenwashing

The focus of this research is the importance of cognitive bias in facilitating the greenwashing of companies when marketing their goods and services as sustainable. This research looks at cognitive biases like confirmation bias, the halo effect, and cognitive availability, and how they impact both the psychological phenomena that drive particular corporate activity and the perception of the consumer. Using case studies in the theoretical framework and other empirical evidence, the study attempts to show how corporate entities mislead consumers by overstating the environmental benefits of their products relative to the reality of the environmental benefits and how this enhances or diminishes consumer confidence and impacts the sustainability movement. The mixed methods in netnographic research and qualitative analysis which involved the study of 50 online interviews and 124 posts and comments digital postings to address and explain the cognitive bias that begets greenwashing and the study attempts to explain the behavior and perception and response of firms to environmental deception, and for the quantitative part, the four hundred forty-seven respondents from firms involved with green products and green activity in different geographical locations in India. Given the nature of the proposed relationships and the complexity of the relationships involved, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed to test the proposed relationships since it is able to provide answers to several variables at the same time. This research identifies and demonstrates the cognitive biases of over-optimism, narrow framing, and hyperbolic discounting, which impact greenwashing behavioral tendencies. Moreover, the research seeks to test whether the audit process and market gain act as moderators between the stated variables and greenwashing. This study begins to address the very limited research on the behavioral and cognitive biases of firms in relation to greenwashing. In particular, this research helps understand the burgeoning practice of greenwashing, the cognitive biases that are driving its proliferation, and the potential strategies that could be employed to reduce its impact.

As the demand for "green" products grows, companies are utilizing green advertising to appeal to consumers. Unfortunately, this trend has been accompanied by a rise in the phenomenon of greenwashing, which has led to skepticism and distrust among green consumers. Drawing on construal-level theory, this study explores features of green messages that affect motivated resistance to persuasion, greenwashing perceptions, and purchase intentions. We crafted fictitious advertisements varying in psychological distance of consequences (proximal vs. distal outcomes) of consequences and in verb modality (definite vs. probable language). Using an experimental survey (N = 1,617), we found that messages that contained two low-construal features (psychological distance of consequences: proximal, and verb modality: definite) produced the most resistance to persuasion. Motivated resistance to persuasion was found to increase perceptions of greenwashing, while perceptions of greenwashing were found to reduce purchase intentions. The experiment additionally found that the combination of proximal consequences and definite language reduced purchase intentions through serial mechanisms of increased motivated resistance to persuasion and perceptions of greenwashing. These findings enrich the growing understanding of green messaging and carry both practical and theoretical implications. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

This study examines the nonlinear relationship between board size and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) greenwashing and explores how board diversity moderates this association. Using panel data from Chinese A-share listed firms between 2009 and 2023, we employ quadratic fixed-effects regression models to test for an inverted U-shaped relationship. The results indicate that medium-sized boards (10-13 directors) exhibit the highest propensity for greenwashing. Further analyses reveal heterogeneous moderating effects across four dimensions of board diversity-gender, functional background, nationality, and age. Specifically, reaching a critical mass of at least two female directors or increasing functional diversity strengthens the inverted U-shaped relationship, whereas greater age or nationality diversity attenuates it. Drawing on fraud triangle theory, this study uncovers a previously overlooked nonlinear mechanism underlying board size and ESG greenwashing. Moreover, it identifies two distinct diversity-driven pathways: resource-based mechanisms (gender and functional diversity) and supervision-based mechanisms (nationality diversity). These findings extend existing literature on board governance and greenwashing and provide practical insights, suggesting that firms should avoid the "danger zone" associated with medium-sized boards and adopt targeted diversity strategies to mitigate ESG greenwashing risks.

Effective governance of corporate greenwashing is critical to global carbon reduction and human-nature harmony, and serves as a cornerstone for China to advance its "dual carbon" strategy and facilitate the green low-carbon transition of heavy-polluting industries. Employing a sample of A-share listed firms in China's heavy-polluting industries over the period 2011-2022, this study empirically examines the governance effects and underlying mechanisms of two heterogeneous market-incentive environmental regulatory instruments-namely, environmental subsidies and pollution taxation-on corporate greenwashing. The key findings are as follows: First, environmental subsidies significantly promote corporate greenwashing, exhibiting a "crowding-out effect," with core transmission channels stemming from the inducement of managerial opportunism and corporate rent-seeking. Second, pollution taxation significantly inhibits corporate greenwashing, yielding a "forcing effect," primarily through dual pathways-external supervisory pressure and internal executive incentives. Third, heterogeneity tests reveal that internal governance mechanisms (equity balance and board governance enthusiasm) and external governance contexts (marketization level and analyst coverage) both exert heterogeneous moderating effects on the governance efficacy of the two regulatory instruments. This study's findings not only contribute to interdisciplinary research on environmental regulation and micro-level corporate green behavior but also provide actionable policy implications for policymakers to optimize environmental regulatory policy mixes, enhance the efficacy of corporate greenwashing governance, and advance the green transformation of heavy-polluting industries and the attainment of China's "dual carbon" goal.

The prediction of ESG greenwashing among listed companies is crucial for ex-ante control of deceptive ESG information disclosures by companies and for early warning of ESG investment risks. Machine learning techniques are commonly used to predict corporate behavior, but their application in ESG greenwashing is limited and lacks interpretability. This study proposes a predictive model for ESG greenwashing in listed companies using the enhanced XGBoost algorithm and SHAP interpretation method. Using a dataset of Chinese listed companies from 2009 to 2022, this study selects 16 indicators of corporate and external pressure characteristics as the model's input variables, combines five-fold cross-validation and grid search parameter tuning, and constructs two company ESG greenwashing prediction models. The prediction performance is compared with Random Forest, SVM, LightGBM, BP neural network, and three XGBoost methods. The SHAP method is used to explain the contribution of the main indicators in predicting the company's ESG greenwashing. The results show that the one-period-lagged corporate characteristics model achieves 86.82% prediction accuracy, and corporate financial characteristics have a greater impact on prediction results than corporate governance characteristics. Further analysis shows that the one-period-lagged corporate characteristics model performs better in non-heavy-pollution industries and state-owned enterprises.

This study investigates how digital transformation influences corporate greenwashing and promotes genuine sustainable development, drawing on the framework of fraud risk factors. Based on panel data from Chinese publicly listed companies between 2009 and 2022, a two-way fixed effects model is employed, with endogeneity addressed through difference-in-differences and instrumental variable techniques. The results show that digital transformation significantly curbs greenwashing by mitigating motivations, reducing opportunities, and enhancing exposure. The effect is stronger for growth- or mature-stage enterprises, non-myopic firms, and regions with low regulatory intensity and high environmental awareness. Furthermore, a double-threshold effect is identified, with the inhibitory role of digital transformation becoming more significant at intermediate and advanced stages. Importantly, digital transformation reduces greenwashing without compromising firms' financial or sustainable performance. These results provide actionable insights for businesses and policymakers in curbing greenwashing and advancing sustainable development.

Due to growing concerns over greenwashing and the demand for sustainable supply chains, this study investigates how customer firms' digital transformation influences the greenwashing behavior of their upstream suppliers. Using a Chinese sample from 2012 to 2022, we find that customers' digitalization effectively reduces suppliers' greenwashing. This main finding remains robust after addressing endogeneity concerns and conducting a series of robustness checks. We further reveal that customer digital transformation increases suppliers' voluntary ESG disclosure, intensifies customer-driven reputational pressure, and fosters collaborative green innovation, thereby suppressing suppliers' greenwashing behavior. Furthermore, the effect of digital governance on supply chain partners' greenwashing is more pronounced among suppliers that are highly dependent on a single customer and have limited bargaining power, as well as among customers that are subject to more stringent environmental regulations and are state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Our findings introduce customer digitalization as a novel governance mechanism for curbing upstream greenwashing and extend the understanding of how digital capabilities enhance accountability for sustainable practices across supply chains.

As the global decarbonisation process accelerates, carbon risks arising from corporate low-carbon transitions may incur potential financial losses and induce deceptive ESG (environmental, social and governance) "greenwashing" practices. This study examines the dynamic relationship between corporate carbon risk and ESG greenwashing using panel data from A-share listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges between 2008 and 2023. Employing a fixed-effects model alongside instrumental variable methods and robustness tests to validate findings, the research reveals: (1) Corporate carbon risk significantly intensifies ESG greenwashing; (2) This effect is more pronounced in state-owned enterprises, high-carbon industries, and pure A-share listed companies, whereas it exerts a suppressing effect on greenwashing in dual-listed companies; (3) Key mechanisms through which carbon risk drives greenwashing include heightened financing constraints, diminished market scrutiny, weakened internal controls, and inadequate sustainability capabilities. This study enriches the theoretical framework on greenwashing drivers and offers practical insights for refining ESG disclosure standards, optimising green finance policies, and promoting substantive corporate emissions reductions.

This article examines how green marketing and the phenomenon of greenwashing on social media relate to consumers' trust-related reactions and their perception of food companies' sustainability orientation. The study is situated within the context of sustainability communication related to food products and food-related consumer decision-making. Particular attention is given to the role of environmental awareness in recognising misleading practices, investigating whether more informed and sustainability-oriented consumers are more likely to identify deceptive sustainability claims. The research employs a quantitative survey method to analyse consumer attitudes and perceptions. The study is based on a convenience sample of 145 adult social media users in Slovenia. The findings suggest that environmentally aware consumers are more capable of detecting greenwashing, that such practices are associated with negative trust-related reactions, and that greater exposure to social media is associated with increased attentiveness to misleading sustainability claims on social media. The results further indicate that verifiable evidence was not significantly associated with lower perceived greenwashing and should be interpreted with caution given the study's measurement limitations. Based on these findings, we suggest that companies build their sustainability communication on consistent and measurable environmental practices, use verifiable and transparent claims, and strategically leverage social media to enhance credibility.

Amid the escalating global climate risks, governments worldwide seek to steer corporate ESG transformations through climate policies. However, the frequent introduction of such policies may inadvertently heighten policy uncertainty, exacerbating corporate ESG greenwashing. This research, using a sample of A-share listed corporate entities from 2009 to 2022, theoretically analyzes and empirically investigates the impact of climate policy uncertainty on corporate ESG greenwashing and its underlying mechanisms. The findings indicate that climate policy uncertainty indeed intensifies corporate ESG greenwashing, a conclusion that holds even after a series of robustness tests, including endogeneity checks and machine learning model re-specifications. Mechanism tests reveal that climate policy uncertainty exacerbates ESG greenwashing through two pathways: information disclosure manipulation and discrepancies in rating systems. Heterogeneity analysis further suggests that the effect is particularly pronounced in small-scale, state-owned, non-high-tech, and non-heavy-pollution corporate entities.

This study explores how bank-firm relationships and executives with banking backgrounds influence greenwashing among Chinese A-share listed firms, based on Institutional and Agency Theories. Firms with bank shareholding or banking-experienced executives show a higher propensity for greenwashing, driven by executive compensation structures tied to inflated ESG scores. Financialization amplifies symbolic ESG disclosures, while transparency reduces greenwashing. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that non-state-owned enterprises and firms in less financially developed regions are more affected. These findings highlight the need for robust governance and transparency to promote authentic ESG practices, offering insights into mitigating greenwashing in emerging markets.

This study explores how Chief Executive Officer (CEO) celebrity affects corporate greenwashing. While existing literature emphasizes celebrity CEOs' tendency to engage in conspicuous Corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, we uncover a more nuanced behavior pattern: their sensitivity to identity threats drives them to avoid greenwashing, as such deceptive environmental practices would undermine their carefully crafted personas. Grounded in identity theory, we develop a defensive identity framework, illustrating how celebrity identity creates self-imposed constraints against deceptive environmental disclosures. We further propose that limited organizational slack and intense market competition could reinforce celebrity CEOs' identity protection motives, leading them to impose stronger constraints on greenwashing. Empirical analysis of the sample of Chinese-listed firms between 2008 and 2021 confirms our propositions, suggesting that leveraging the influence of celebrity CEOs can be an effective strategy to combat greenwashing, providing a valuable practical implication for enhancing corporate sustainability.

Amid accelerating globalization, deepening green transitions, and digital upheavals, corporate organizational resilience has emerged as an essential element for economic resilience, with genuine ESG practices at its core. However, intentional distortions in ESG implementation, particularly pervasive greenwashing, pose major risks by eroding adaptive capacities, distorting market signals, and misallocating resources, ultimately impeding high-quality economic development. This study examines 2012-2022 data from China's A-share listed companies through the dual lenses of unsystematic risk transmission and governance failures, revealing how ESG greenwashing undermines organizational resilience by reducing competitiveness, tightening financing constraints, and stifling innovation. Evidence suggests that green management innovations and analyst attention reduce these effects by optimizing internal risk controls and increasing transparency. Research on organizational heterogeneity reveals that non-SOEs, tech-driven, and growth-stage firms with robust internal controls demonstrate stronger regulatory resistance through structural agility. Paradoxically, rigorous environmental regulations may counterproductively incentivize ESG greenwashing that erode dynamic capabilities. This study provides actionable insights for safeguarding environmental integrity and advancing sustainable development through a risk management framework to counteract compliance circumvention strategies.

Amid stringent global environmental governance, corporate green investment has become a key strategy for competitiveness, yet whether it boosts performance or is merely symbolic remains understudied. Using data from China's A-share listed companies during 2008-2022, this study finds that green investment significantly reduces corporate competitiveness, a conclusion that holds under a series of robustness tests. The negative impact works by reducing total factor productivity, increasing financing constraints, and lowering ESG scores. Heterogeneity analysis shows this effect is strongest in firms with low executive green awareness, high industry concentration, high government subsidies, and high-pollution industries. These findings explain firms' tendency toward greenwashing over substantive green transformation, and suggest nuanced policies: incentivize green investment while strengthening environmental compliance and disclosure to guide authentic green transformation.

The increasing environmental impact of the fashion industry has underscored the urgent need for sustainable business practices. However, consumer preferences remain heavily skewed toward fast fashion, posing a significant challenge to green consumption. This study examines the key determinants influencing Green Purchase Intention (GPI) within the fashion industry, emphasizing the mediating roles of Green Word of Mouth (GWOM) and Green Trust (GT). The research framework investigates the influence of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Green Advertising (GA), and Greenwashing (GW) on GWOM and GT, which, in turn, shape Corporate Image (CI) and GPI. Employing a quantitative research design, data were collected from 300 online fashion consumers in China through a structured survey administered via the Sojump platform, using purposive sampling. The collected data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). First, the measurement model was assessed for reliability and validity through convergent and discriminant validity tests. Second, the structural model was evaluated to test the hypothesized relationships and predictive relevance. Findings indicate that CSR and GA positively influence GWOM and GT, whereas GW significantly reduces GT but does not impact GWOM. Furthermore, both GWOM and GT exhibit a strong positive effect on GPI and CI. These results highlight the need for fashion brands to adopt transparent green marketing strategies and implement authentic sustainability initiatives to build consumer trust and encourage positive word of mouth. By fostering greater credibility and corporate image, brands can strengthen long-term customer loyalty and drive sustainable consumption behavior in the fashion sector.

As ESG investing becomes increasingly normalized, there is heightened scrutiny on whether companies partake in strategic greenwashing by capitalizing on the ambiguity of ESG disclosures. Drawing on signaling theory and the financing pricing behavior of risk-averse creditors, this study develops a micro-level theoretical model within a game-theoretic framework to explain the incentives for firms to adopt greenwashing behavior (GW) under ambiguous ESG signals. The theoretical analysis suggests that moderate information asymmetry may help reduce financing costs and generate implicit financing dividends, whereas excessive GW may result in regulatory penalties and reputational risks. Based on this framework, the study constructs a firm-level ESG disclosure uncertainty (ESGU) index and conducts an empirical analysis using data from A-share listed companies in China (from 2009 to 2022). The results show that greater ESGU increases the likelihood of firms engaging in GW-emphasizing green narratives while obscuring actual environmental performance. Further analyses reveal that firms with higher debt financing costs, greater information asymmetry, and stronger resource dependence are more likely to leverage ESG signal ambiguity to "appear green." Heterogeneity signifies that audit quality and financial pressure substantially influence the intensity of ESGU on GW. Moreover, GW is found to significantly alleviate firms' financing constraints. A nonlinear relationship is also identified between ESGU and financing constraints, indicating the existence of a marginal "fuzzy arbitrage" window. This work offers theoretical and empirical evidence for the economic rationale linking ESG disclosure ambiguity to GW, thereby enhancing the literature on green signaling, strategic compliance, and sustainable finance. The results provide actionable insights for enhancing ESG governance in financial markets and promoting high-quality, sustainable development.

Corporate sustainability faces a central dilemma: do environmental initiatives deliver genuine improvement or merely constitute greenwashing? This study compares environmental management, represented by the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System (EMS), and environmental technology, represented by Cleaner Production Practices (CPP), using a staggered difference in differences design and panel data on 57,512 EMS-certified and 17,119 CPP-audited Chinese manufacturing firms from 2000 to 2012. Both approaches enhance environmental and economic performance, yet CPP achieves greater reductions in SO2 and COD emissions, while EMS more strongly stimulates R&D investment and green technology innovation. CPP also eases financing constraints, whereas joint adoption yields no synergistic gains, suggesting symbolic compliance. Positive effects are concentrated among heavily polluting, small and medium-sized, non-exporting firms in less regulated regions, while large exporters and firms in stricter contexts exhibit patterns consistent with greenwashing. These findings clarify when environmental management and environmental technology drive substantive sustainability transitions and when they serve as symbolic adoption, offering critical insights for corporate strategy and policy design.

Past research has shown that "greenwashed" package designs promote the belief that a product is environmentally friendly. The present investigation tested whether greenwashing influences the perceived health benefits of food items. In Study 1 (N = 84), participants generally perceived greenwashed foods to be healthier than did participants evaluating comparable foods in conventional packages. Study 2 (N = 76) additionally compared the impact of a label indicating "organic." Results showed that for food items generally perceived as healthier, both greenwashed and organic products were rated as significantly healthier than conventionally labeled food products; for foods perceived as less healthy, only the greenwashed items were considered to be healthier, whereas for items generally considered to be unhealthy, package labeling did not exert a significant effect on health perceptions. Implications for the impact of food labeling on perceptions of environmental sustainability and health are discussed.

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