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How Do Consumers' Perceptions Change When Greenwashing Is How do consumers’ perceptions change when greenwashing is revealed? Effect of information on consumer perceptions and purchase intention in the context of greenwashing BACHELOR THESIS WITHIN: Business Administration NUMBER OF CREDITS: 15 hp PROGRAMME OF STUDY: Marketing Management AUTHORS: Filip Forsell & Ida Åkerblom TUTOR: Nadia Arshad JÖNKÖPING Spring 2020 1 Acknowledgements First and foremost, the authors of this thesis want to express their gratitude towards the friends and family that have given their support during the period of writing our thesis, the encouragements and discussions are greatly appreciated and helped us through, even during personally challenging times. We also want to thank the persons who agreed to be interviewed for the purposes of completing our research, as the thesis would not have come to be without them. We want to thank our supporting tutor, Nadia Arshad who has given very insightful and appreciated feedback even on short notice during stressful times. Lastly, we want to thank Anders Melander for keeping us in the loop and giving instructions on the next steps during the process. 2 Bachelor Thesis Degree Project in Business Administration Title: Effect of information on consumer perceptions and purchase intention in the context of greenwashing Authors: Filip Forsell & Ida Åkerblom Tutor: Nadia Arshad Date: 2020-05-18 Key terms: Greenwashing, Consumer Perceptions, Purchase Intention, Awareness, Interest Background: The emergence and growth of the green economy has prompted companies to take more steps towards becoming environmentally conscious, but this is not always done in an honest way, from which cases of greenwashing has emerged. Cases of greenwashing can be recognized in all areas of business, and most of the research at the moment only recognizes the effect of a greenwashing case on consumer behavior, missing the link of consumer perceptions. The existing case study research also focuses on the attitudes after the fact, not investigating how a consumer reacts to the information during the revelation of a company’s misconduct. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the connection between the concept of greenwashing and consumer perceptions, and thus the decisions consumers take based on the level of information they possess. Method: The research is conducted as an interpretivist qualitative case study based on a single imaginary case, where the data is gathered through triangulation of previous existing literature and observations from semi-structured interviews, analyzed through abductive reasoning. Conclusion: The research found that when a consumer is presented with information about a company and their initiatives, the perceptions that the consumer has change accordingly. The perceptions are dependent on the level of interest the consumer has in sustainability issues. Some findings that were not expected considered the partial effect of the sustainability initiatives, showing that consumers are only interested in green initiatives up to their personal constraints or 3 preferences. The consumers largely see the motivations of a company to be attributed to profits, however, some more optimistic consumers seem to be less affected by greenwashing. 4 Table of Contents 1. Introduction 7 1.1 Background 7 1.2 Problem discussion 9 1.3 Delimitations 10 2. Frame of reference 10 2.1 Greenwashing 11 2.1.1 Sins of greenwashing 11 2.1.2 Drivers of greenwashing 12 2.1.3 Effects of greenwashing 13 2.2 Consumer Perceptions 13 2.2.1 Consumer’s level of interest in Sustainability 14 2.2.2 Consumer’s level of awareness regarding greenwashing 15 2.3 Company motivations for developing a green brand image 16 3. Methodology 17 3.1 Research philosophy 17 3.2 Research approach 18 3.3 Research strategy 18 4. Method 18 4.1 Research structure 18 4.2 Interview design: 19 4.3 Sampling: 19 4.4 Ethicality, trustworthiness: 20 4.5 Interview guide: 20 4.6 Data analysis 23 5. Empirical Findings 23 6. Analysis 30 7. Conclusion 35 8. Discussion 36 8.1 Managerial implications 36 8.2 Limitations 37 8.3 Further research 39 9. References 40 5 10. Appendices 46 10.1 Interview 1 46 10.2 Interview 2 47 10.3 Interview 3 47 10.4 Interview 4 48 10.5 Interview 5 49 10.6 Interview 6 50 10.7 Interview 7 51 10.8 Interview 8 51 10.9 Interview 9 52 10.10 Interview 10 53 10.11 Interview 11 54 10.12 Interview 12 54 6 1. Introduction 1.1 Background The value of the green economy is constantly increasing, and there is value to be gained from utilizing green marketing tactics, as 66% of consumers are willing to pay more for a sustainable brand (Nielsen, 2015). The value of the green economy is worth around four trillion USD as of 2018, which is the same amount as the fossil fuel market (UNFCCC, 2018). In the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change report (2018) the green economy is defined as an economy that is aiming for sustainable development without degrading the environment, as well as reducing ecological scarcities and environmental risks. Green Marketing is defined by Prakash (2002) as “strategies to promote products by employing environmental claims either about their attributes or about the systems, policies and processes of the firms that manufacture or sell them”. The communication about these aspects can be undertaken by multiple outlets, such as advertising, PR, customer relations, and packaging for the purpose of creating a more sustainable image. Green marketing can create long lasting customer relationships, which in turn increase the brand value of companies (Vilkaite-Vaitone & Skackauskiene, 2019; Zampese, Moori & Caldeira, 2016). This creates an incentive to utilize green marketing tactics, however there are cases where green marketing is misleading the customer, a practice which is called greenwashing. Greenwashing can be defined as the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental benefits of a product or service or the environmental practices of a company (TerraChoice, 2007). This communication is usually undertaken as a means to relay information to potential customers and change their perceptions about the efforts a company takes to satisfy the green needs emerging from the expansion of the green market. The communication can be viewed as misleading in cases where the company exaggerates their actions (TerraChoice, 2007). Therefore, companies would be able to profit from the unawareness of customers or unwillingness to search for information thus creating increased profits without making any adjustments to their business model. In many cases brands may exhibit imagery or colors such as green - which has a general connotation of being environmentally friendly - on their communications and packaging, and thus be able to mislead customers to think that the company 7 is doing more for the environment than they really are (Schmuck, Matthes & Naderer, 2018; Parguel, Benoit-Moreau & Russell, 2015). There are many examples of greenwashing. Arguably the largest one in recent years was the “Dieselgate” scandal caused by Volkswagen. Volkswagen stood accused of installing a “defeat device” in the software of the car which was active in situations when the car was being tested on how much emissions it had by governing bodies around the world (BBC, 2016). However, when the cars were being used in real life, they would emit 40-80 times more than they would in the lab, where the defeat device was active. This led to a scandal with multiple repercussions, such as: 30,000 employees were let go and the company had to buy back 500,000 cars in the US alone (BBC, 2016). This meant that the greenwashing in this example lead to massive damages for all stakeholders: the employees at Volkswagen, the consumers who had bought a car in the belief that it was eco-friendly, and to the shareholders when the stock went from 240 euros to 101 euros in less than 6 months. However, greenwashing can be recognized not only in consumer goods, but also in areas such as finance and funds. In 2018 Goldman Sachs was advertising their new “Just fund” as a socially responsible and sustainable investment fund (Sirota, 2018). However, some of the largest investments are in fossil fuel firms and other companies that are not actively working to minimize the negative impact they have on the environment. Sirota argues that sharing part of the investments in “socially just” funds does not make a company responsible if Goldman Sachs are still investing the majority of their capital in companies that are acting against the good of the environment. Starbucks faced similar scrutiny in 2007 when they launched their new paper cup, which was made of 10% recycled paper and on the cups Starbucks promoted recycling together with the slogan “Help us help the planet”. However, due to the plastic lining inside the cups, which is used to make sure that the cup does not leak, the cups could not be recycled (Conrad, 2007). This led to a public relations scandal where Starbucks was accused of manipulating consumers who thought they were doing something good for the environment. Starbucks has since doubled down and are once again promising greener cups, however, the debate on their effect on the environment still lingers. 8 1.2 Problem discussion The emergence and growth of the green marketing practices create a need for further research of the topic. As green marketing is a very broad practice, the authors of this thesis will rather concentrate on the misleading part of this communication as there is a lack of research on how misleading communications affect customers’ perceptions, and what are the effects of customer awareness on the perceptions. In particular, this thesis will focus on greenwashing, which is a form of misleading advertising. Most of the existing literature on green marketing is concerned with positive aspects of green marketing.
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