Interplay of mediating factors in the relationship between greenwashed labels and consumers' trust

    Collection:
    Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
    Contributers:
    El Khoury, Charbel M. (author), Sayegh, Elie E. (author), and Al Alam, Adel F. (author)
    Format:
    Journal article
    Publication Date:
    2017
    URL:
    https://scialert.net/abstract/?doi=ajm.2017.44.53
    Published:
    Korea: Korean Marketing Association
    Location:
    Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 208 Document Number: D13291
    Journal Title:
    Asian Journal of Marketing
    Journal Title Details:
    11(2):44-53
    Subject Term:
    consumer information, consumers, consumption, labeling, labels, environmental concerns, health awareness, Lebanon (Western Asia), green marketing, consumer trust, greenwashing, cultural context, eating habits, mediators, and environmental awareness
    Notes:
    11 pages, Background and Objective: Greenwashing as a concept has lately appeared to attract the attention of several practitioners and scholars. This study aims to examine the effects of greenwashed labels on Lebanese consumersʼ trust, while accounting for the mediating role that personal, social and environmental factors play. Materials and Methods: An online questionnaire was addressed to a sample of 227 consumers aged between 19 and 24 years old, in order to investigate their opinion towards labels that feature particular green attributes on chocolate bars. This study adopts exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling for the analysis of data. Results: A negative association exists between greenwashed labels and consumersʼ trust. The presence of personal and environmental factors as mediators between greenwashed labels and consumersʼ trust does not indicate remarkable influence. Social factors alone are seen to play the mediating role that affects the relation of the relevant variables. Conclusion: The suspicious greenwashing practices of many corporations have today raised consumersʼ concerns. In general, many Lebanese consumers currently hold unfavorable perspectives towards products that feature unverified green claims on their labels. Corporations targeting the Lebanese market should therefore diminish their greenwashing activities and design truthful labels that generate trust among consumers.

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