Determining the effects of government's perceived ecological roles on Chinese consumers' proenvironmental attitude, and green consumerism: The moderating effect of greenwashing perceptions

• Published date: 01 February 2023
• Author: Tadesse Beyene Okbagaber
• Date: 01 February 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2840

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Determining the effects of government's perceived ecological

roles on Chinese consumers' proenvironmental attitude,

and green consumerism: The moderating effect of

greenwashing perceptions

Tadesse Beyene Okbagaber

School of Business, University of International

Business and Economics, Beijing, People's

Republic of China

Correspondence

Tadesse Beyene Okbagaber, School of

Business, University of International Business

and Economics, Beijing 100029, PR China.

Email: de201865025@uibe.edu.cn or

Email: nanta121@yahoo.com

While the normative ecological roles of a government's effect on consumers' proeco-

logical attitude and green consumerism have received less attention, greenwashing

interaction effect remains unexplored. Building on the two normative theories –

stakeholder theory and social contract theory, the study tests a theoretical model

integrating mediating and moderating relationships using survey data from 202 con-

sumers across China. Results show a government's normative ecological roles posi-

tively and significantly on consumers' proenvironmental attitudes and green

consumerism. It also confirms the mediating roles of the proenvironment between

the ecological roles of a government and green consumerism. Further, tests of green-

washing moderation effect generated mixed outcomes. Insignificant greenwashing

interaction effect between proenvironment and green consumerism, but, it proved

significant interaction between ecological roles of a government and green behavior.

The study proposes research avenues on how researchers can step up the theme and

policy implications to practitioners.

KEYWORDS

environmental roles, green consumerism, greenwashing perceptions, proenvironmental

attitude

1|INTRODUCTION

Green consumerism or eco-friendly behavior emerged due to exoner-

ating environmental problems (Schlegelmilch et al., 1996) as the

impulse to adopt green behavior. In recent years, global warming, pol-

lution, and depleting ozone layers have been significant concerns for

governments, stakeholders, regulatory bodies, and consumers. Such

ecological imbalances demand coordination of different parties; thus,

academicians and practitioners posit environmental joint preservation

efforts at the individual and organizational levels (Shirsavar &

Fashkhamy, 2013). Green perceived quality and green consumerism

behavior encourage the revisit intention of customers, and services

practicing green also motivate for consumers' green intention (Riva

et al., 2022); accrued competitive advantages (Hussain et al., 2020);

firm image (Dhir et al., 2021). For instance, integration of value-

creating ecological management and marketing (Achchuthan &

Velnampy, 2017); integration of consumers and companies for green

or sustainable marketing in the form of Corporate Social Responsibil-

ity (CSR) strategy (Paladino & Ng, 2013).

Contemporary green marketers are curious to expand the pre-

dominant very little information on green consumerism in many

aspects such as health consciousness, economic constraints, living

arrangements, and shopping style factors (Sajeewanie et al., 2019),

specifying roles of consumers and also other environmental functions

of stakeholders. The call for different actors' engagement in green

marketing strategies provides ambiance for green marketing concepts

influencing consumers' consumption patterns, ecological attitudes,

intentions, and behaviors (Chen, 2010). The empirical study

Received: 26 February 2021 Revised: 20 July 2022 Accepted: 23 July 2022

DOI: 10.1002/pa.2840

J Public Affairs. 2023;23:e2840. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa © 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 1of21

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2840

demonstrates that green brand credibility is associated with green

information quality, which reflects on consumers' perception of green

brands and intention of purchasing green products/services, specifi-

cally, mere exposure to green advertisement is unlikely of generating

positive outcomes for green brands (Kumar et al., 2021). Similarly,

scholars underscored the prevailing lack of extensive research on the

effect of CSR, innovation, green marketing, and performance (Kim

et al., 2018); unpacking the complex interaction of different actors for

stimulating positive behavior change (Okumah et al., 2020). Thus, con-

sumers' growing concern for overall environmental degradation has

raised research avenues on institutional roles influencing either pro-

moting or discouraging green behavior. Emekci (2019) noted the

importance of green marketing because consumers are overly con-

cerned about the environment's depleting nature. Likewise, the call

for future research on adopting green behavior through integrating

internal and external factors (Sajeewanie et al., 2019); the inadequacy

of information hindering green behavior (Guru & Ranchhod, 2005).

However, Zeynalova and Namazova's (2022) research reported that

green behavior varied by customers' level of education, income, and

family size that overall customers tend to demonstrate partial sensitiv-

ity to environmental concerns. Hence, to address the calls for empiri-

cally supported evidence, the present study focused on determining

the root causes and effects of environmental partners' normative roles

in achieving green consumerism and its interactions with greenwash-

ing perceptions.

The study targets the People's Republic of China (PRC) con-

sumers since the environmental management system established on

its rich cultural values and input for sustainable development

(Chan, 2001) brought about significant improvements that may

demand documentation. The PRC Ministry of Ecology and Environ-

ment (MEE) set up an environmental watchdog that works on zero-

tolerance to a one-size-fits-all attitude toward environmental gover-

nance (MEE, 2020). In a similar vein, Li et al. (2019) reported that

many well-known international companies respond to the Chinese

government's call for green manufacturing and innovation. Despite

the Governments and environmental-concerned bodies promoting

and designing environment-friendly regulations and taking corrective

actions, negligible progress was recorded towards the green economy.

Equally, more than ever, consumers' growing preference for green

products/services and concern about prevailing environmental degra-

dation demanded evidence-based mitigation strategies for promoting

green behavior (Achchuthan & Velnampy, 2017; Emekci, 2019; Kim

et al., 2018; Li et al., 2019; Sajeewanie et al., 2019; Zaharia &

Zaharia, 2014). Moreover, the present study suggested two normative

theories, including the stakeholder and the social contract theories, as

lenses to spell out and analyze the hypothesized framework.

This empirical study addresses the knowledge gaps in exploring

the government's normative environmental roles and mediating effect

of consumers' pro-environmental attitude on green consumerism. It

further investigated the moderation effect of greenwashing between

the government's green consumerism and perceived proenvironmen-

tal roles. Thus, it aimed at addressing the following specific research

questions:

1. Do the government's environmental perceived roles influence

consumers' behavior on green consumerism?

2. Can the government's ecological perceived efforts impact con-

sumers' pro-environmental attitude and green consumerism?

3. To what extent do consumers' greenwashing perceptions moder-

ate between government's perceived environmental roles, con-

sumers' green consumerism, and proenvironmental attitude?

The paper's remaining part is structured as follows. The following

section presents a theoretical basis and discusses the theoretical

frameworks of normative theories, namely the stakeholder theory

(ST) and the social contract theory (SCT). It elaborates on the litera-

ture review and hypotheses development associated with the study's

variables and relationships. The following section describes the meth-

odology and procedures adopted and also measurements of the

study's constructs. Finally, it presents the empirical results and discus-

sions, theoretical and managerial implications, limitations, and sugges-

tions for future research and conclusions.

2|THEORETICAL BASIS

The normative theories attempt to provide a general theory depicting

aspects of human activities involving business relations or vice versa.

The underlying normative theories of business ethics consist of the

stockholder, stakeholder, and social contract. Hasan et al. (2012) view

stockholder theory as favoring ethical concerns addressing members

of the business community; integrating conflicting claims of business

partners, and gaining prominence among the business community. On

the other hand, the SCT deals with enhancing stakeholders' satisfac-

tion and societal welfare without violating standards of justice. It is

exceedingly responding to current challenges and opportunities of

business ethics. Given the study's objectives, pertinent theories back-

ing the hypothesized framework are ST and SCT.

2.1 |The stakeholder theory

The normative view of the ST encompasses balancing conflicting

claims of multiple stakeholders. Because of this, the management's

fundamental obligation relies not only on maximizing profit but also

on ensuring the sustainable survival and success of every stakeholder.

In ensuring corporations' obligations, the corporation adopts two prin-

ciples: corporate legitimacy which stands for stakeholders' benefit,

and stakeholders' engagement in decisions that substantially affect

community welfare (Hasan et al., 2012). Freeman is the father of ST,

who initially defined stakeholders as “any group or individual who can

affect or is affected by the achievement of the organization's objec-

tive”(Freeman, 1984:46). Friedman and Miles (2006) also expressed

that stakeholders are individuals or institutions with viewpoints, inter-

ests, and needs under consideration. In another way, Freeman et al.

(2004) posits that stakeholders consist of several members whose

roles are critical for achieving the partners' goals and survival. In line

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