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With the ever increasing concern for the environment, companies are in a hurry to bridge the gap between what the consumer wants and what they can provide. In this scenario, companies might end up engaging in greenwashing activities. Greenwashing is “the act of misleading the consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service” (Parguel et al, 2011).
There is a rising preference for natural or green personal care products amongst the Indian consumer (Shukla,2017). This leaves the Indian consumer vulnerable to the greenwashing activities undertaken by the firms producing these personal care products. Thus, it is important to study the impact of greenwashing in the personal care segment on the Indian consumer’s green purchase behaviour.
This study aims to gauge the impact of greenwashing on consumer’s willingness to pay for green skin care products, in the age group of 20-40 years in the affluent areas of South and South West Delhi in India.
A primary survey with the help of a questionnaire of 200 respondents was conducted and logit regression was run on the collected data. Marginal effects were used for interpretation of the results.
Ability to identify greenwashing was found to have a significant impact on consumer’s willingness to pay extra for a green skin care product. Along with the Ability to identify greenwashing, the variables like Age, Awareness about green skin care products and Health consciousness also impacted the consumer’s WTP extra for a green skin care product. On the other hand, Income and Awareness about green skin care products significantly impacted the consumer’s WTP extra for a greenwashed skin care product.
