Pride and Prejudice and Country-of-Origin Ecological Images: The Influence of COO Ecological Image on Consumer Evaluation of Product Greenness and Green Claim Credibility

ABSTRACT

The increasing consumer demand for shopping eco-friendly products online leads brands and marketers to offer more products that are claimed to be eco-friendly on online stores. However, it is very difficult for consumers to evaluate the credibility of such claims, and marketers usually do not offer resources to help consumers make the evaluation. Hence, consumers must utilize limited information cues (e.g. country-of-origin, price, etc.) that are available to them to evaluate the credibility of green claims and the greenness of products. Two online experiments were conducted to examine how product COO, product price, and product types affect consumer perception of product greenness and green claim credibility. The findings suggest that product COO is a powerful factor that influences consumer perception. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings were discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Country-of-origin effect
• heuristic-systematic model
• greenwashing
• green marketing
• green ecommerce

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).