Would you date a liar? The impact of greenwashing on B2B relationships under the managerial trust view

Abstract

Greenwashing can be perceived as dishonest behavior that can threaten trust in business deals due to the current trend of an intensive scrutiny of sustainability-related messages from organizations. Drawing on the literature concerning managerial trust, our study analyzes how perceived greenwashing negatively affects business-to-business relationships, focusing on two aspects: (1) whether managers’ perception of greenwashing is influenced by uncertainty in the business decision-making process and (2) whether individual manager characteristics play a significant role in modulating this influence. We used an experimental design involving 125 Spanish managers to confirm the importance of uncertain scenarios under the negative influence of greenwashing on business decision-making process. The findings also confirm that this negative influence is intensified by managers’ characteristics in terms of risk aversion and the importance they place on corporate reputation. The study makes several contributions to academia and practitioners by advancing the understanding of greenwashing in the context of business-to-business relationships.