Is greenwashing impacting on green brand trust and purchase intentions? Mediating role of environmental knowledge

Organizations want to enhance sales via improved purchases. Therefore, they want higher purchase intentions. With the current green marketing wave, stakeholders need green facilitations from the organizations. In the current era of heightened awareness toward environmental issues, stakeholders are demanding green initiatives from organizations. Consequently, organizations are striving to earn the trust of environmentally conscious consumers. However, certain entities engage in the deceptive practice of greenwashing, attempting to falsely present themselves as environmentally friendly. This research seeks to inspect the influence of the greenwashing on customer purchase intentions. Additionally, it explores mediation role of the green brand trust and the regulating influence of customers' environmental knowledge in this relationship. Data for the study were collected across all four provinces of Pakistan, employing standardized scales for measurement. The results indicate that greenwashing has an adverse effect on purchase intentions. Furthermore, the deceptive practice of greenwashing diminishes green brand trust, leading to a decline in customers' purchase intentions. The research also emphasizes that the association between greenwashing and purchase intentions is intensified by higher levels of environmental knowledge among consumers. This study contributes a distinctive perspective to existing literature, offering insights into ways organizations can enhance customers' purchase intentions and consequently drive higher sales.