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  4. Greenwashing Training Fosters a General Skepticism

Greenwashing Training Fosters a General Skepticism

File(s)
vonSicherer_cornell_0058O_12385.pdf (10.16 MB)
Permanent Link(s)
https://doi.org/10.7298/9bw9-zf91
https://hdl.handle.net/1813/117482
Collections
Cornell Theses and Dissertations
Author
von Sicherer, Philipp
Abstract

Training interventions have been proposed as a countermeasure against greenwashing. However, there is no clear consensus on their effectiveness. In an effort to contribute to a better understanding, we examined the impact of greenwashing training on consumers’ ability to discern greenwashing using an online survey experiment designed to resolve ecological and internal validity issues of past work (N = 518). Additionally, we extended the scope by exploring whether greenwashing training also affects healthwashing detection. Our study revealed that greenwashing training can make consumers more likely to perceive advertisements featuring deceptive environmental claims correctly as greenwashing but can also make them more likely to misperceive advertisements without such claims as greenwashing. Furthermore, it showed that although healthwashing is not the subject of greenwashing training, the triggered skepticism can transfer to healthwashing perceptions, too. Overall, these findings suggest that greenwashing training does not enhance greenwashing detection proficiency but rather promotes excessive suspicion.

Description
77 pages
Date Issued
2025-05
Keywords
deceptive advertising
•
greenwashing
•
healthwashing
•
training intervention
Committee Chair
Pennycook, Gordon
Committee Member
Thoemmes, Felix
Degree Discipline
Psychological Sciences and Human Development
Degree Name
M.A., Psychological Sciences and Human Development
Degree Level
Master of Arts
Rights
Attribution 4.0 International
Rights URI
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Type
dissertation or thesis
Link(s) to Catalog Record
https://newcatalog.library.cornell.edu/catalog/16938317

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