Follower Skepticism Toward Green Influencers: E‐ WOM Insights on Authenticity and Greenwashing

ABSTRACT This study examines how followers of green influencers negotiate skepticism toward authenticity and greenwashing through electronic word‐of‐mouth (e‐WOM) on TikTok, whose short‐form, highly interactive format makes such negotiation publicly visible as it unfolds. Using a qualitative netnographic approach, reflexive thematic analysis was applied to 1453 comments from 21 videos posted by 16 green influencers, predominantly in Vietnam. Findings reveal three skepticism themes, targeting the influencer's personal authenticity and motives, the efficacy of promoted sustainability actions and greenwashing risk, and the environmental legitimacy of recommended green alternatives, alongside a counter‐theme in which admiration and inspiration accompany expressed pro‐environmental intentions despite this doubt. Skepticism is interpreted here as a dynamic process negotiated along two proposed pathways rather than a static barrier. In a disruptive pathway, perceived theatricality appears to be read as discrediting, and commentary turns negative. In a parallel pathway, environmental decoupling may allow followers to separate judgment of the influencer from the environmental cause, so that skepticism and admiration coexist alongside expressed positive engagement. The contribution extends the Stimulus‐Organism‐Response framework by specifying its organismic state and proposes the target‐dependent branching of the two pathways, rather than decoupling itself, as an emerging proposition open to testing. Practically, green influencers and brands should keep recording subordinate to the activity, close the loop by reporting outcomes and verification, and state the conditions under which claimed benefits hold. A shift toward demonstrable green leadership may help sustain support alongside residual doubt.