IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v144y2017i2d10.1007_s10551-015-2829-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Gray Shades of Green: Causes and Consequences of Green Skepticism

Author

Listed:
  • Constantinos N. Leonidou

    (University of Leeds)

  • Dionysis Skarmeas

    (Athens University of Economics and Business)

Abstract

Consumer skepticism of corporate environmental activities is on the rise. Yet research on this timely, intriguing, and important topic is scarce for both academics and practitioners. Building on attribution theory, we develop and test a theoretically anchored model that explains the sources and consequences of green skepticism. The study findings reveal that consumers’ perceptions of industry norms, corporate social responsibility, and corporate history are important factors that explain why consumers assign different motives to corporate environmental actions. In addition, the results show that while intrinsic motives exert a strong negative effect on green skepticism, extrinsic motives have no discernible effect. Furthermore, the findings indicate that green skepticism prompts consumers to seek more information about the products, sparks negative word of mouth to friends and acquaintances, and forestalls purchase intentions. The study offers several implications for corporate and public policy makers and presents fruitful research directions.

Suggested Citation

  • Constantinos N. Leonidou & Dionysis Skarmeas, 2017. "Gray Shades of Green: Causes and Consequences of Green Skepticism," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 144(2), pages 401-415, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:144:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-015-2829-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-015-2829-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-015-2829-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-015-2829-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Béatrice Parguel & Florence Benoît-Moreau & Fabrice Larceneux, 2011. "How Sustainability Ratings Might Deter "Greenwashing": A Closer Look at Ethical Corporate Communication," Post-Print halshs-00561187, HAL.
    2. Skarmeas, Dionysis & Leonidou, Constantinos N., 2013. "When consumers doubt, Watch out! The role of CSR skepticism," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(10), pages 1831-1838.
    3. Béatrice Parguel & Florence Benoît-Moreau & Fabrice Larceneux, 2011. "How Sustainability Ratings Might Deter ‘Greenwashing’: A Closer Look at Ethical Corporate Communication," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(1), pages 15-28, August.
    4. Herr, Paul M & Kardes, Frank R & Kim, John, 1991. "Effects of Word-of-Mouth and Product-Attribute Information on Persuasion: An Accessibility-Diagnosticity Perspective," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 17(4), pages 454-462, March.
    5. repec:cup:judgdm:v:5:y:2010:i:5:p:411-419 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Cho, Yoon-Na & Thyroff, Anastasia & Rapert, Molly I. & Park, Seong-Yeon & Lee, Hyun Ju, 2013. "To be or not to be green: Exploring individualism and collectivism as antecedents of environmental behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(8), pages 1052-1059.
    7. Yu-Shan Chen & Ching-Hsun Chang, 2013. "Greenwash and Green Trust: The Mediation Effects of Green Consumer Confusion and Green Perceived Risk," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 114(3), pages 489-500, May.
    8. Vlachos, Pavlos A. & Epitropaki, Olga & Panagopoulos, Nikolaos G. & Rapp, Adam A., 2013. "Causal Attributions and Employee Reactions to Corporate Social Responsibility," Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(4), pages 334-337, December.
    9. Kilbourne, William & Pickett, Gregory, 2008. "How materialism affects environmental beliefs, concern, and environmentally responsible behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 61(9), pages 885-893, September.
    10. Scott R. Colwell & Ashwin W. Joshi, 2013. "Corporate Ecological Responsiveness: Antecedent Effects of Institutional Pressure and Top Management Commitment and Their Impact on Organizational Performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(2), pages 73-91, February.
    11. Bulent Menguc & Seigyoung Auh & Lucie Ozanne, 2010. "The Interactive Effect of Internal and External Factors on a Proactive Environmental Strategy and its Influence on a Firm's Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 94(2), pages 279-298, June.
    12. Jodie Ferguson & Pam Ellen & Gabriela Piscopo, 2011. "Suspicion and Perceptions of Price Fairness in Times of Crisis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 98(2), pages 331-349, January.
    13. Joëlle Vanhamme & Bas Grobben, 2009. "“Too Good to be True!”. The Effectiveness of CSR History in Countering Negative Publicity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 85(2), pages 273-283, April.
    14. Aguinis, Herman & Glavas, Ante, 2013. "Embedded Versus Peripheral Corporate Social Responsibility: Psychological Foundations," Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(4), pages 314-332, December.
    15. J. Vanhamme & B. Grobben, 2009. "Too good to be true ! : the effectiveness of CSR History in Countering Negative Publicity," Post-Print hal-00581630, HAL.
    16. Magdalena Öberseder & Bodo Schlegelmilch & Verena Gruber, 2011. "“Why Don’t Consumers Care About CSR?”: A Qualitative Study Exploring the Role of CSR in Consumption Decisions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 104(4), pages 449-460, December.
    17. Pavlos Vlachos & Nikolaos Panagopoulos & Adam Rapp, 2013. "Feeling Good by Doing Good: Employee CSR-Induced Attributions, Job Satisfaction, and the Role of Charismatic Leadership," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(3), pages 577-588, December.
    18. repec:dau:papers:123456789/4687 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Naresh K. Malhotra & Sung S. Kim & Ashutosh Patil, 2006. "Common Method Variance in IS Research: A Comparison of Alternative Approaches and a Reanalysis of Past Research," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(12), pages 1865-1883, December.
    20. Becker-Olsen, Karen L. & Cudmore, B. Andrew & Hill, Ronald Paul, 2006. "The impact of perceived corporate social responsibility on consumer behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 46-53, January.
    21. Sucharita Chandran & Vicki G. Morwitz, 2005. "Effects of Participative Pricing on Consumers' Cognitions and Actions: A Goal Theoretic Perspective," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 32(2), pages 249-259, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Skarmeas, Dionysis & Leonidou, Constantinos N., 2013. "When consumers doubt, Watch out! The role of CSR skepticism," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(10), pages 1831-1838.
    2. Whitney Ginder & Wi-Suk Kwon & Sang-Eun Byun, 2021. "Effects of Internal–External Congruence-Based CSR Positioning: An Attribution Theory Approach," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(2), pages 355-369, March.
    3. Ghi-Feng Yen & Hsin-Ti Yang, 2018. "Does Consumer Empathy Influence Consumer Responses to Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility? The Dual Mediation of Moral Identity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-17, May.
    4. Reimer, Thomas & Benkenstein, Martin, 2018. "Not just for the recommender: How eWOM incentives influence the recommendation audience," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 11-21.
    5. Jordy F. Gosselt & Thomas Rompay & Laura Haske, 2019. "Won’t Get Fooled Again: The Effects of Internal and External CSR ECO-Labeling," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(2), pages 413-424, March.
    6. Won‐Moo Hur & Yeonshin Kim, 2017. "How Does Culture Improve Consumer Engagement in CSR Initiatives? the Mediating Role of Motivational Attributions," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(6), pages 620-633, November.
    7. Yunjeong Kim & Kyung Wha Oh, 2020. "Effects of Perceived Sustainability Level of Sportswear Product on Purchase Intention: Exploring the Roles of Perceived Skepticism and Perceived Brand Reputation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-16, October.
    8. Robinson, Stefanie & Eilert, Meike, 2018. "The role of message specificity in corporate social responsibility communication," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 260-268.
    9. Newton, Joshua D. & Tsarenko, Yelena & Ferraro, Carla & Sands, Sean, 2015. "Environmental concern and environmental purchase intentions: The mediating role of learning strategy," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(9), pages 1974-1981.
    10. Ying Sun & Biao Luo & Shanyong Wang & Wenpei Fang, 2021. "What you see is meaningful: Does green advertising change the intentions of consumers to purchase eco‐labeled products?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 694-704, January.
    11. Jahn, Johannes & Brühl, Rolf, 2019. "Can bad news be good? On the positive and negative effects of including moderately negative information in CSR disclosures," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 117-128.
    12. Henri Kuokkanen & William Sun, 2020. "Companies, Meet Ethical Consumers: Strategic CSR Management to Impact Consumer Choice," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 166(2), pages 403-423, October.
    13. Babatunde Ogunfowora & Madelynn Stackhouse & Won-Yong Oh, 2018. "Media Depictions of CEO Ethics and Stakeholder Support of CSR Initiatives: The Mediating Roles of CSR Motive Attributions and Cynicism," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(2), pages 525-540, June.
    14. Erifili-Christina Chatzopoulou & Dimitris Manolopoulos & Vasia Agapitou, 2022. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Employee Outcomes: Interrelations of External and Internal Orientations with Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(3), pages 795-817, September.
    15. Laura Marie Edinger-Schons & Lars Lengler-Graiff & Sabrina Scheidler & Jan Wieseke, 2019. "Frontline Employees as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Ambassadors: A Quasi-Field Experiment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(2), pages 359-373, June.
    16. G. Pino & M. Nieto Garcia & A. Peluso & G. Viglia & R. Filieri, 2023. "Understanding how virtuous lenders encourage support for peer-to-peer platforms’ prosocial initiatives," Post-Print hal-04248928, HAL.
    17. Simona Romani & Silvia Grappi & Richard P. Bagozzi, 2016. "Corporate Socially Responsible Initiatives and Their Effects on Consumption of Green Products," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 135(2), pages 253-264, May.
    18. Chang-Dae Ham & Jeesun Kim, 2019. "The Role of CSR in Crises: Integration of Situational Crisis Communication Theory and the Persuasion Knowledge Model," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(2), pages 353-372, August.
    19. Arli, Denni & Grace, Anthony & Palmer, Janet & Pham, Cuong, 2017. "Investigating the direct and indirect effects of corporate hypocrisy and perceived corporate reputation on consumers’ attitudes toward the company," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 139-145.
    20. Ali Raza & Amer Saeed & Muhammad Khalid Iqbal & Umair Saeed & Imran Sadiq & Naveed Ahmad Faraz, 2020. "Linking Corporate Social Responsibility to Customer Loyalty through Co-Creation and Customer Company Identification: Exploring Sequential Mediation Mechanism," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-19, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:144:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-015-2829-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.