Greenwashing Versus Green Authenticity: How Green Social Media Influences Consumer Perceptions and Green Purchase Decisions

Firms show their environmental efforts on social media in order to influence the green purchase decisions of environmentally conscious consumers. However, consumers remain suspicious of firms’ environmental claims. This study aims to assess the impact of green social media influence, greenwashing perception, and green authenticity perception on green purchase decisions. In addition, greenwashing perception and green authenticity perception mediate the relationship between green social media influence and green purchase decisions. Data on fashion clothing brands were collected from 413 respondents in Guangzhou, China. These data were analyzed through SPSS version 23 and Smartpls version 4.0.8 software. The findings of this study show that the relationship between green social media influence, greenwashing perception, and green authenticity perception remains significant. Similarly, the mediating relationship of green authenticity perception between green social media influence and green purchase decisions remains significant. However, the mediating relationship of greenwashing perception between green social media influence and green purchase decisions remains non-significant. The results of this study will be beneficial for fashion clothing brands, marketers, policymakers, and researchers. Moreover, this study provides practical guidance for stakeholders to gain maximum benefits from social media and avoid the harmful effects caused by greenwashing perception.