Combating the credibility crisis - Investigating the role of brand co-creation within green marketing

Abstract

Firms are facing increasing pressure to become more sustainable, coupled with growing insight and scrutiny. However, attempts to meet these demands and attract sustainability-concerned consumers through green marketing and branding has resulted in widespread greenwashing. As a result, claims around sustainability have become less credible and made consumers more sceptical. Consequently, firms and consumers have found themselves in what could be referred to as a credibility crisis. In parallel, firms are subject to increasing consumer participation captured in the new marketing paradigm of co-creation in which they need to balance control with maintaining a relevant brand. Taken together, they constitute two pressing challenges that firms need to manage. This study focuses on investigating the relationships of brand co-creation, brand credibility and greenwashing, and their role in building green brand equity. To investigate this, a quantitative study was conducted using survey data collected from young adults at a Swedish university. The results show that while the activities of dialogue and access in brand co-creation were less effective, the transparency it entails contributed to increased brand credibility and green brand equity. The results confirm the destructive nature of greenwashing, and the importance of minimising such conducts in order to overcome the credibility crisis apparent within green marketing. The theoretical implications demonstrate the benefits of a more detailed approach when investigating co-creation, and brand credibility's natural role in improving green brand equity. Managerial implications include dismantling all greenwashing practices, while increasing transparency in order to both improve brand credibility and green brand equity. While having other clear benefits, brand co-creation per se is deemed less effective if the sole purpose is to improve green brand equity.