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The effect path of greenwashing brand trust in Chinese microbiological industry from decoupling view

Rui Guo, Lan Tao, Liang Yan, Pan Gao

In China, for many companies, green brand strategy is becoming an important approach to enhance their competitive advantage in the microbiological industry. However, greenwashing behaviors result in a trust crisis of green brands. Extant research on green brands is always from green marketing while silent on an institutional perspective. Thus, this study, from decoupling view from institutional theories, provides a comprehensive framework to explore the effect path of green brand trust in the microbiological industry. Then, based on SEM and regression analysis, the interesting findings are concluded that brand legitimacy takes the mediating role in the effect path, and brand loyalty can alleviate the negative effect of greenwashing brands.