Abstract

The research on greenwashing brands’ rebuilding strategies and mechanism of brand trust after biochemical and other pollutions

Author(s):Rui Guo, Lan Tao, Pan Gao

In present China with incremental environmental problems after biochemical and other pollutions, many companies create many green brands to enhance their competitive advantage. However, many greenwashing brands can’t keep their words about their green commitments. Thus they are facing a trust crisis. Now, the problem they need to solve is how to rebuild the trust. But the extant green brand and biochemical and other research ignored overall social support (legitimacy) on brand trust, and trust rebuilding from an impression management perspective. Therefore, this study, from the impression from management perspective, uses legitimacy, greenwashing, and green brand theories to analyze the trust rebuilding strategies and mechanism. The results from four experiments show that: (1) trust rebuilding mechanism, in which green brand greenwashing has a negative impact of legitimacy which has a positive impact on brand trust; (2) trust rebuilding strategies, in which the innocence defending and positive improvement can enhance brand trust of greenwashing brands. These interesting findings can not only enrich extant brand management and green marketing, but also provide vital implications to green brand companies.