Sustainable Fashion Consumption in The Era of Greenwashing: Examining The Mediating Roles of Consumer Skepticism and Green Trust in Sustainable Purchase Behaviour

Abstract

The rise of sustainable fashion also brought along an increasing interest in sustainable fashion from consumers and the green washing trend also introduced the need for more attention to be paid on how credible sustainable fashion claims are by fashion brands. This study aims to investigate what “sustainable fashion consumption” is in the era of “greenwashing” and focuses on how consumer skepticism and green trust can play a mediating role in sustainable fashion purchase behavior. The study was of a quantitative design with the population of 384 consumers. To test the proposed relationships, Exploratory Factor Analysis, linear regression and parallel mediation analysis were used. The factor analysis resulted in the presence of 4 constructs that are greenwashing perception, consumer sceptics, green trust and sustainable fashion purchase behaviour, and the factors accounted for 74.015% of the total variance. Results of the regression showed that the greenwashing perception was a significant factor affecting sustainable fashion purchase behaviour (β = −0.642, p < 0.001) and accounted for 41.2% of the variance. Results of the mediation showed that the perception of greenwashing significantly increased the consumer scepticism and decreased green trust. There is a negative relationship between consumer scepticism and sustainable purchase behaviour and positive relationship between green trust and sustainable purchase behaviour. Consumer skepticism and green trust had a significant mediating effect for the model of greenwashing perception to sustainable purchase behaviour. The indirect effect via green trust (−0.336) was higher compared to the indirect effect via consumer skepticism (−0.172), suggesting that loss of consumer trust is a particularly important path by which greenwashing undermines purchasing of sustainable fashion. The study finds partial parallel mediation, in that there was still a direct path from greenwashing perception to the outcomes after the mediators were added. The insights underscore the need for verifiable, credible and transparent sustainability communication to build sustainable fashion consumer trust and sustainable consumption of fashion.