Quantified environmental sustainability disclosures shape consumer perceptions and brand equity

Abstract Recently, businesses and consumers have paid increasing attention to environmental sustainability, creating a need for sustainability communication that is measurable, accessible, and credible. This study conceptualizes Quantifying Environmental Sustainability Impact (QSI-E) as a consumer-perceived communication strategy rather than a formal sustainability reporting framework. Drawing on Attribution Theory, this cross-sectional survey examined the associations between QSI-E, Perceived Corporate Green Authenticity (PCGA), Customer-Perceived Ethics, Perceived Greenwashing, and Brand Equity. Data were collected from 300 environmentally conscious Indonesian consumers and analyzed using PLS-SEM. The results show that QSI-E was strongly associated with PCGA (β = 0.863, p < 0.001) and Customer-Perceived Ethics (β = 0.466, p < 0.001). However, QSI-E was not significantly associated with lower Perceived Greenwashing (β = 0.031, p = 0.380). Customer-Perceived Ethics was negatively associated with Perceived Greenwashing (β = − 0.188, p = 0.023), and the indirect path from QSI-E to Perceived Greenwashing through Customer-Perceived Ethics was significant but small (β = − 0.088, p = 0.031). PCGA and Customer-Perceived Ethics were positively associated with Brand Equity, whereas Perceived Greenwashing showed a small negative association. The model explained substantial variance in PCGA (R² = 0.744), Customer-Perceived Ethics (R² = 0.759), and Brand Equity (R² = 0.686), but limited variance in Perceived Greenwashing (R² = 0.027). These findings suggest that QSI-E is more strongly associated with authenticity and ethical evaluations than with reduced greenwashing perceptions. Because the sample consisted of environmentally conscious Indonesian consumers, the findings should not be generalized to consumers more broadly.