Greenwashing and Financial Manifest of Food and Beverages Manufacturing Firms in Nigeria

This study investigates the relationship between Greenwashing and Financial Manifests of Food and Beverages Manufacturing Firms in Rivers State Nigeria. The objectives of the study were to investigate the influence of corporate-level greenwashing and product-level greenwashing on profitability of the firms. The study adopted the quasi-experimental research design which employed the cross-sectional survey design. The choice of this survey approach is because it will scientifically look at the situation on ground and will empirically analyse it to get result that can be attributable to the accessible population. Based on the research questions, a questionnaire was designed and one hundred (100) copies were distributed to the customers of the food and beverages manufacturing firms who constituted the population of the study, the researchers purposively administered ten (10) copies each to customers of the ten (10) food and beverages manufacturing firms selected for this study. After data cleaning, a total of ninety-two (92) copies of the distributed questionnaire were retrieved. These copies were analysed and the hypotheses were tested using the Spearman’s Correlation Coefficient with the aid of SPSS Version 23.0. The result revealed that; there is a weak positive relationship between the dimensions of greenwashing adopted in this study and profitability of the food and beverages manufacturing firms in Rivers State. The study concluded that greenwashing is not healthy for the financial manifests of the food and beverages manufacturing firms in Rivers State. The study consequently recommends that; companies should focus on sustainable development and limit the occurrence of greenwashing. For companies, greenwashing will bring temporary benefits in a short period of time; Government departments and regulatory agencies should establish a sound regulatory mechanism to scientifically manage the greenwashing behaviours of companies.