How does greenwashing influence managers' decision-making? An experimental approach under stakeholder view

Abstract

Greenwashing is a communication practice that consists of the deliberate and voluntary disclosure of environmentally misleading (or even false) information by a firm and which the public understands to be deceptive. Although prior literature analyzes greenwashing effects from the greenwasher perspective, the underlying perceptions of managers in the decision-making process related to maintaining (or contracting a new) a commercial partner, client, supplier, or other stakeholder who is a greenwasher, remain underexplored. This work empirically examines how greenwashing could influence managers’ decision making and whether a moderation effect of attitude toward environmental management exists in this relationship. In doing so, this work relies on experimental design.