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Perceived Greenwashing and Its Impact on Brand Trust and Purchase
Intention: An Empirical Study of Herbal Shampoo Consumers in
Karnataka
Nikheel Bhumanna Shirshyad¹, N. Nagasubba Reddy ²
¹MBA 2
nd
year, RV Institute of Management
²Assistant Professor, RV Institute of Management.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.51583/IJLTEMAS.2026.150600236
Received: 09 July 2026; Accepted: 14 July 2026; Published: 01 August 2026
ABSTRACT
The market of herbal and natural shampoo in Karnataka functions within the setting of a rapidly expanding
number of eco-labels that make consumers more sensitive to the genuineness of environmental advertising. This
paper looks at the perceived greenwashing on brand trust and purchase intention by consumers of herbal
shampoo in Karnataka through brand trust. There is a tested moderated mediation model where Environmental
Knowledge (EK) is the moderator of the relationship between Perceived Greenwashing (PGW) and Brand Trust
(BT), with Brand Trust (BT) being a mediator between Purchase Intention (PI) and Perceived Greenwashing
(PGW). A five-point Likert scale structured questionnaire was used to collect the data of 400 respondents and
was analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) with bootstrapping of
5,000-subsamples by using SmartPLS 4. All four constructs demonstrated satisfactory reliability and validity
(Cronbach’s α: 0.732–0.799; CR: 0.832–0.868; AVE: 0.555–0.621). Brand Trust had a significant negative effect
(β = -0.43, p < 0.001) on Perceived greenwashing, leading to purchase intention (β = +0.43, p < 0.001). Partial
mediation was established: the moderating role of brand trust on purchase intention through perceived
greenwashing was also significant (β = -0.177, p < 0.001) but there was also direct relationship (β = -0.221, p <
0.001).). Environmental Knowledge significantly amplified the negative effect of greenwashing on trust through
the interaction term (β = 0.258, p < 0.001). The model accounted 28.9% variation in brand trust, and accounted
29.9% in purchase intention. These results can be applied to herbal FMCG brands and organizations that regulate
in the booming green Indian consumer market.
Keywords: Perceived Greenwashing; Brand Trust; Purchase Intention, Environmental Knowledge, PLS-SEM,
Karnataka, Herbal Shampoo.
INTRODUCTION
Indian fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry has experienced a drastic increase in the number of
products that are being sold as such- herbal, natural, or eco-friendly, especially in personal care segment. The
market of herbal shampoo is expected to continue registering at least high percent growth into the late 2020s
with some part of it being due to the fact that people want chemical-free products and partly due to efforts made
by big brands who have repositioned their old product lines as having green labels. Karnataka is a highly
urbanised state with a relatively high level of education in India which makes its consumers an educative artifact
to observe the ways in which consumers assess the above claims: consumers in Karnataka are digitally savvy
and are in touch with both Indian and imported brands of FMCGs.
This is a market of credibility. Although authentic herbal and organic products are available, much of what is
sold as herbal products in India is based on a loose set of terminologies used, including herbal-enriched, natural
inspiration, botanical blend etc., which have no regulatory definition and cannot be checked by third parties.
This has come to be commonly referred to in the scholarly and regulatory sources as greenwashing, which has
made consumers not discern any difference between genuinely green products and the superficially repositioned
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products (Delmas and Burbano, 2011; Chen and Chang, 2013). The implication is a loss of the consumer trust
that such brands are trying to develop with their eco-marketing.
Several international studies have validated the relationship between perceived greenwashing and consumer
trust, however, empirical research on this topic in the Indian context, herbal personal care market, is scarce.
Additionally, previous research seldom factors in the buffering nature of Environmental Knowledge - the
consumer capacity to read labels, find certifications and assess eco-claims - in determining the strength at which
greenwashing perception hurts trust. The same group of knowledgeable consumers can also be more susceptible
to greenwashing cues because they possess the mental means to understand when marketing statements and
ingredient facts are in conflict.
These gaps have been chosen in this research by aiming the moderated mediation model where the perceived
greenwashing is negatively correlated with the brand trust, brand trust correlates with the purchase intention,
and Environmental Knowledge mediates the mediating relationship between the PGW and the BT. The research
adds value to the increasing Indian literature on sustainable consumption and greenwashing, gives effective
implementation recommendations to the herbal FMCG brands in operation in the states of Karnataka and
presents a PLS-SEM approach template to such studies in developing market settings.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Chen and Chang (2013) conducted a study on "Greenwash and Green Trust: The Mediation Effects of Green
Consumer Confusion and Green Perceived Risk". They investigated the mediation effects of green consumer
confusion and green perceived risk on the relationship between greenwashing and green trust. They utilized a
quantitative, causal research design. Convenience sampling and structured questionnaire were used to collect the
data (280 valid responses). Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) were
used to analyse the data. It was found that at the point of consumer perception of greenwashing, trust in the
product and the environmental claims of the brand suffers greatly; in addition to the direct decrease in trust,
greenwashing has a compounding effect on the mistrust of consumers by increasing their confusion and sense
of risk.
Wang, Pramuja et al (2025). researchers carried out a research on the same title Perceived Greenwashing and
Consumer Responses in Hospitality: A Cross-National Study of Taiwan and Indonesia. They examined how
perceived greenwashing influenced customer satisfaction and booking intention in the mediating role of trust
and authenticity. They employed a cross-sectional quantitative research design. Purposive sampling and a
questionnaire by mean of structured questionnaire have been used to collect the data and were collected through
890 respondents (428 Taiwanese people and 462 Indonesian people). Data analysis was done with the help of
SmartPLS 4 and PLS-SEM. The results indicated that perceived greenwashing has a great negative impact on
trust and authenticity in a hotel, decreasing customer satisfaction and booking intention, with significant
differences between Taiwanese and Indonesian consumers.
Di Pillo, Palombi and Strazzullo (2025) encourage research on the topic of the article: Does Greenwashing
Wash Away Gen Z Green Purchase Intention? They explored the effect of perceived greenwashing on the
purchase intention of the Generation Z in the Theory of Planned Behaviour. They employed a qualitative research
design with explanation. Structured online questionnaire and convenience sampling were used to sample 400
Generation Z consumers in Rome. SmartPLS 4 and PLS-SEM were used to analyse the data. The analysis
showed that although subjective norms and environmental attitudes have a positive impact on purchase intention,
the impact of perceived greenwashing is the strongest, e.g. the perceived greenwashing is highly negative and it
undermines the intentions to buy the product in a sustainable way significantly.
Huang et al. (2025) organized a study on the following: The role of green self-identity in determining consumer
loyalty and repurchase intentions: a moderated mediation model in green marketing. They investigated the
mediation effect of green brand image on consumer loyalty and how green self-identity strengthens sustained
customer commitment. They used a structured survey with a 7-point Likert scale among 598 guests who stayed
at eco certified hotels. The data were analysed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The findings
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revealed that green self-identity significantly strengthens consumer loyalty and repurchase intention, green self-
identity moderates the effect of green marketing on brand image and loyalty.
Sun and Shi (2022) carried out research that deals with the topic of "Impact of Greenwashing Perception on
Consumers Green Purchasing Intentions. They examined the variables of perceived betrayal as mediators and
environmental responsibility as moderators. The type of research design they applied was a quantitative survey-
based research process. Randomly sampled, 204 valid responses were used to collect the data. The SPSS and
AMOS (SEM) were employed to analyze the data. The results showed that the perception that consumers have
of greenwashing instills in them a feeling of psychological treachery, which make buy intentions decline much
more so among the eco-efficient consumers.
Sajid et al. (2025) conducted a study on "Does greenwashing dim green actions? Examining how greenwashing
impacts consumers’ pro-environmental intentions". They investigated the mediating roles of consumer
skepticism, trust erosion, and moral disengagement between greenwashing and pro-environmental intentions.
They used an explanatory quantitative research design. The data were collected from sample of 360 consumers
using convenience sampling and a structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed using Structural Equation
Modeling (SEM). The findings showed that greenwashing significantly weakens pro-environmental intentions,
with skepticism and trust erosion mediating this negative effect.
Braga et al. (2019) conducted a study on "Greenwashing Effect, Attitudes, and Beliefs in Green Consumption".
They examined the impact of greenwashing perception on consumer attitudes, beliefs and green product
consumption behaviour. Their research design was an exploratory quantitative research design. The structured
questionnaire was used to gather the data of 880 valid respondents. IBM SPSS Statistics 22 and SmartPLS 2.0
(PLS-SEM) were employed to analyze the data. The results indicated that the presence of positive consumer
attitudes confirms the idea of green consumption, but the perception of greenwashing escalates to confusion and
risk and undermines the satisfaction, loyalty, and perceived benefit.
A study by Keilmann and Koch (2025) entitled Little green lies: greenwashing has a negative influence on
corporate perception was done. They explored the interaction of perceived motives, skepticism, and authenticity
on corporate reputation. Their research design was a quantitative experimental design, which employed
controlled stimuli. Nineteen-one participants were sampled out of convenience to gather the data. The SPSS,
ANOVA and mediation analyzed the data. The results have shown that even minor discrepancies (little green
lies) have great negative impact on corporate reputation and credibility and as the difference in the discrepancy
increases, the negative impact resulting is also significant.
Zhang et al. (2018) carried out a research on the topic of “The influence of greenwashing perception on green
purchasing intentions”. Their study involved the mediating effect of green word-of-mouth, and moderating effect
of green concern. They employed an explanatory quantitative research design. Convenience sampling was used
to gather the data on 553 customers. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), mediation, and moderation analysis
were used to analyse the data. The results revealed that the perception of greenwashing decreases the green
purchase intention both directly and indirectly, through green word-of-mouth and that the green concern
enhances the negative response.
sayibu Ibrahim Nnindini et al. (2024) studied the article on describing brown as green: an exploration of the
connection between greenwashing and consumer negative emotive effects. They analyzed how greenwashing
and its effects, such as brand avoidance, hate and retaliation are connected. They used an explanatory quantitative
research design. The survey was taken of 490 respondents through the internet. SmartPLS 3.3 (PLS-SEM) was
used to analyse the data. The results were that greenwashing is associated with high negative emotional
responses, including avoidance and negative word-of-mouth, which brand loyalty mitigates to some extent.3.
Research Gap
The literature analyzed above presented a well-developed background to the personal relationship suggested in
the model of the research presented in this paper. However there are still a few gaps. Firstly, the current research
on greenwashing and trust is primarily based on consumers in the Western market or on generalized green
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product types; the Indian herbal personal care market or consumer has not received much empirical research
despite its market importance and regulatory uncertainty. Second, although mediation of trust between the
perception of greenwashing and purchase intention is theoretically based, this mediation relationship has seldom
been empirically tested with PLS-SEM using bootstrapping confidence interval in an Indian market. Third, the
Environmental Knowledge is also suggested as the moderating factor between the relationships of the variables
of PGW and BT but is not empirically tested within a contextually applicable product category such as herbal
shampoos in Karnataka. All the three gaps are filled in the current research under a single empirical framework.
Objectives
To test on whether perceived greenwashing significantly erodes brand trust among consumers of herbal
shampoo in Karnataka.
To determine whether brand trust is a significant and a positive contributor to purchase intention.
To test the mediation of brand trust in the PGW → PI relationship.
To analyse whether Environmental Knowledge does indeed moderate the relation between the PGW and BT
such that it enhances the negative relation of lower-knowledge level consumers.
Hypotheses
On the background of the theoretical framework and literature review, the hypotheses are
H1: There is a significant negative effect of perceived greenwashing on brand trust among the consumers of
herbal shampoo in Karnataka.
H2: Brand trust has a significant positive impact on purchase intention.
H3: Perceived greenwashing has a significant direct negative impact on purchase intention.
H4: Brand trust mediates the relationship between perceived greenwashing and the purchase intention (indirect
effect).
H5: Environmental Knowledge moderates the relationship between the PGW and the BT so that increasing EK
will enhance the negative impact of greenwashing on trust.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Design
A quantitative cross-sectional survey design was taken up. This methodology is in line with known practice in
PLS-SEM-based consumer behaviour research, and suitable to examine a theorized structural model that
includes multiple latent constructs at a single point in time.
Sample size and sampling design.
The convenience sampling technique was used to gather the responses of the herbal shampoo consumers.
Convenience sampling is commonly used in exploratory, PLS-SEM studies whose main goal is not population-
level inference, but model validation. The original dataset consisted of 400 valid responses that exceeds the
minimum PLS-SEM models require four constructs and up to four arrows into one construct (Hair et al., 2019).
Sampling Unit
The sampling unit is of adult residents of Karnataka, 18 years and more who said they frequent bought herbal or
natural shampoo brands. The respondents were requested to base their answers to be referring to a particular
brand of herbal shampoo, which they used most often so that construct measures were based on true brand
experience and not on perceptions of herbal shampoo in general.
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Data Collection
The primary data was gathered via a structured questionnaire, via the online system Google Forms in March
2026. The questionnaire consisted of various parts: Section A was used to screen the herbal shampoo users. The
latent constructs were assessed on a five-point Likert scale (1 = Strongly Disagree to 5 = Strongly Agree) in
section B. The items measured Environmental Knowledge (4), Perceived Greenwashing (4), Brand Trust (4),
and Purchase Intention (4) and included a total of 16 Likert items. Demographic data (gender, age group,
education, monthly income and occupation) was captured in section C. All items were forward-coded; there was
no backward coding. The secondary data was used from the journals indexed on Scopus and google scholar.
Measures
Environmental Knowledge (EK) measures the consumers awareness about labelling, ingredients present and
understanding between organic and herbal certifications such as ECOCERT and COSMOS along with
identifying harmful chemicals. The Perceived Greenwashing (PGW) were basically formed based on Braga et
al. (2019) and Chen Chang (2013) to assess the vagueness in the eco-terms, masking of chemicals and herbal
claims, exaggerating the visuals of naturalness and misinterpretation. Brand Trust (BT) items also indicated
perceived truthfulness of claims, safety promise reliability, health safety and non-deception. The Purchase
Intention (PI) items were modified to reflect continuation of purchase, brand preference and intends to
repurchase.
Statistical Tools
Data were analysed using SmartPLS 4. PLS-SEM was chosen instead of covariance-based SEM since it is quite
suitable in exploratory predictive modelling (Hair et al., 2012, 2019). Path coefficient significance and
confidence intervals were obtained by bootstrapping with 5,000 subsamples and a two tailed test of 0.05.
Measurement model was evaluated in terms of reliability (Cronbach α, composite reliability ρc, rho a ) and
validity (AVES, HTMT) and structural model was then tested.
Technique
Purpose
PLS-SEM (SmartPLS 4)
Measurement and structural model estimation
Bootstrapping (5,000 subsamples)
Path significance, CIs, t-statistics (H1–H5)
Cronbach's α / CR / rho_a
Internal consistency and reliability
AVE / HTMT / Fornell-Larcker
Convergent and discriminant validity
SRMR / NFI
Overall model fit
Table 1: Statistical Techniques Employed
Data Analysis and Results
Demographic Profile of Respondents
The demographic and usage profile of the 400 respondents is in Table 2. Most of the respondents were female
(57%) who are in line with higher consumption of personal care products reported by women in Indian FMCG
surveys. 41% of the respondents were in the 18-25 (Gen Z) age group, then 26-35 (28.75%), implying that this
is a highly youthful sample of consumers that will be well poised to assess herbal brand statements on digital
platforms. Graduates were 46% of the respondents and post-graduates or professionally qualified respondents
were 34.75%. The income was predominantly distributed 43% of the 25000-50000 range. The most anchored
brand was Himalaya Herbals 14.75% as it has been leading in the market share of Karnataka market in herbal
shampoo category, followed by Patanjali Kesh Kanti (10.5%). Surprisingly, a considerable percentage of the
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sample 62% chose Others which implies a fragmented and heterogeneous competitive environment in the herbal
hair care sector.
Variable
Category
Frequency
Percentage (%)
Gender
Female
228
57.0
Male
159
39.75
Prefer not to say
13
3.25
Age Group
18–25 (Gen Z)
164
41
26–35 (Millennials)
115
28.75
36–50
72
18
Above 50
49
12.25
Education
Graduate
184
46.0
Post-Graduate / Professional
139
34.75
Up to 12th / Diploma
77
19.25
Monthly Income
₹25,000–50,000
172
43
₹50,001–1,00,000
80
20
Above ₹1,00,000
84
21
Below ₹25,000
64
16.0
Primary Brand
Himalaya Herbals
59
14.75
Patanjali Kesh Kanti
42
10.5
Biotique
20
5.0
Indulekha
31
7.75
Others
248
62
Table 2: Demographic Profile of Respondents (n = 400)
Descriptive Statistics
Descriptive statistics both at the item and construct levels are indicated in Table 3. Brand Trust items presented
the largest means scores (BT1 = 4.42 to BT4 = 4.35) indicating that the respondents had an extremely high level
of foundation trust towards their anchor brand. The mean of BT1 (I trust this brand) is high and indicates general
trust which is deeply rooted, but a large negative skewness (up to -1.01) means that there is a ceiling effect and
the greatest number of respondents are strongly positive. Means of perceived Greenwashing item 3.45 (PG4) to
3.51 (PG1) which allows concluding that potential customers have a more or less perception of deceptive
environmental statements, disregarding their personal attitude to the brand. The Environmental Knowledge items
concentrated on 3.13-3.19 with a moderate level of environmental literacy with the largest standard deviation
(EK2 = 1.08) suggesting that there is more diversity in the actual environmental literacy level of the respondents.
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On the other hand, the lowest mean scores were seen in Purchase Intention items (PI2 = 2.00 to PI4 = 2.06)
which suggest a strong resistance to purchase that is markedly different on high brand trust scores (construct
mean ≈ 4.38) but equally contrasting on purchase intention scores (construct mean ≈ 2.03). Though the
respondents claim high levels of overall trust towards their anchor brand, the structural model shows that
moderate levels of greenwashing perception (PGW mean ≈ 3.49) can help block purchase intention directly as
well as by causing partial erosion of the trust. The low PI scores probably indicate that brand trust remains, but
is currently being aggressively undermined by perceived misleading eco-communicated claims - a tendency that
is consistent with the partial mediation result in H4.
Construct
Mean
SD
Max
Skew
Env. Knowledge
3.130
0.944
5
-0.208
Env. Knowledge
3.155
1.083
5
-0.157
Env. Knowledge
3.138
0.928
5
-0.163
Env. Knowledge
3.198
1.059
5
-0.083
Perc. Greenwashing
3.518
0.876
5
-0.087
Perc. Greenwashing
3.505
0.963
5
-0.124
Perc. Greenwashing
3.512
0.898
5
-0.111
Perc. Greenwashing
3.452
0.980
5
-0.188
Brand Trust
4.420
0.678
5
-0.847
Brand Trust
4.358
0.708
5
-0.807
Brand Trust
4.405
0.694
5
-1.011
Brand Trust
4.352
0.731
5
-0.967
Purchase Intention
2.058
0.772
5
0.230
Purchase Intention
2.007
0.803
5
0.396
Purchase Intention
2.007
0.777
5
0.373
Purchase Intention
2.068
0.845
5
0.372
Table 3: Item-Level Descriptive Statistics (n = 400)
Measurement Model
Indicator reliability, internal consistency reliability, convergent and discriminant validity were evaluated on the
measurement model by the procedure suggested by Hair et al. (2019).
Almost all the outer loadings were more than or were very close to the suggested value of 0.70 (Hair et al., 2019).
For Brand Trust, loadings ranged from 0.699 (BT4) to 0.785 (BT2); for Perceived Greenwashing, from 0.740
(PG4) to 0.819 (PG1); for Purchase Intention, from 0.696 (PI4) to 0.807 (PI1). In the case of Environmental
Knowledge, loadings were between 0.619 (EK4) and 0.869 (EK2). Three indicators (BT4,0.699; PI4,0.696; and
EK4,0.619), were below a 0.70 threshold, but three below the threshold significantly (BP 0.619). EK4, measuring
knowledge on eco-certifications (e.g. ECOCERT and COSMOS) could be streamlining a slightly different aspect
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of environmental knowledge than EK1-EK3, which focus on label-reading and chemical identification. They
were all kept since construct-level reliability and AVE of each specific construct were acceptable (Hair et al.,
2019), but future research can potentially contemplate substituting EK4 with an item that is more consistent with
the label-reading domain.
Table 4 shows the reliability and validity of each construct. The Cronbach’s alpha values were between 0.732
and 0.799 all above the suggested cut off 0.70. The values of composite reliability (ρc), were between 0.832 and
0.868, whereas (ρa) values were between 0.741 and 0.912, all acceptable. The values of Average Variance
Extracted (AVE) were between 0.555 and 0.621, which is more than 0.50 (Fornell and Larcker, 1981) verifying
convergent validity.
Construct
Item
Cronbach’s
α
ρa
CR (ρc)
AVE
Factor
loadings
Env. Knowledge
EK1
0.799
0.912
0.848
0.587
0.719
EK2
0.869
EK3
0.831
EK4
0.619
Perc. Greenwashing
PG1
0.797
0.804
0.868
0.621
0.819
PG2
0.796
PG3
0.796
PG4
0.740
Brand Trust
BT1
0.743
0.750
0.838
0.563
0.762
BT2
0.785
BT3
0.753
BT4
0.699
Purchase Intention
PI1
0.732
0.741
0.832
0.555
0.807
PI2
0.711
PI3
0.760
PI4
0.696
Table 4: Construct Reliability and Validity (n = 400)
Note: Where α = Cronbach alpha; rho_a = Dijkstra-Henselers rho_a, CR = composite reliability (rho c) and AVE
= average variance extracted. Thresholds: α ≥ 0.70, CR ≥ 0.70, AVE ≥ 0.50 (Hair et al., 2019). Indicators that
achieved middle-level loading of slightly less than 0.70 (BT4 = 0.699, PI4 = 0.696, EK4 = 0.619) were
maintained to meet construct-level reliability and AVE standards. This high rho_a of Environmental Knowledge
(0.912) in comparison with its Cronbach’s alpha (0.799) and CR (0.848) is due to the fact that, the much higher
loading of EK2 (0.869) versus EK4 (0.619), causes the weight difference to inflate rho_a so high above the a-
CR interval. This does not nullify the construct in the sense that both α and CR exceed thresholds.
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Both Heterotrait-Monotrait (HTMT) ratio and Fornell-Larcker criterion were used to test the discriminant
validity. The Fornell Larcker criterion matrix in Table 5 shows that the diagonal values (√AVE) are greater than
all the off-diagonal inter-construct values. The largest off-diagonal correlation was obtained between BT and PI
(r = 0.509), which is much lower than the √AVE of BT (0.750), which validates the discriminant validity. Table
6 shows the HTMT matrix: all of the ratios were lower than the conservative value of 0.85 (Kline, 2016), the
biggest ratio was HTMT (BT, PI) = 0.679. The inner model did not present any multicollinearity issues and had
a VIF value of 1.00 to 1.23.
Construct
BT
EK
PG
PI
BT
0.750
EK
-0.182
0.766
PG
-0.431
-0.048
0.788
PI
0.509
-0.020
-0.399
0.745
Table 5: Fornell-Larcker Criterion (Diagonal = √AVE; Off-Diagonal = Inter-Construct Correlations)
Note: Bold diagonal values represent √AVE. Discriminant validity requires diagonal > all off-diagonal values in
the corresponding row and column.
Construct
BT
EK
PG
PI
BT
EK
0.185
PG
0.550
0.140
PI
0.679
0.095
0.519
Table 6: HTMT Discriminant Validity Matrix
Note: All HTMT values < 0.85, confirming discriminant validity (Kline, 2016; Hair et al., 2019).
Structural Model and Hypothesis testing.
Path coefficients, t-statistics, p-values and bootstrapped 95% confidence intervals were used to evaluate the
structural model. The inner model only contained insignificant collinearity between variables as all the VIFs
were found to be lower than 1.25. The SRMR (0.071, acceptable according to Henseler et al., 2015) and NFI
(0.774) were used to evaluate model fit (although it should be emphasized that NFI is a known attribute of NFI
in PLS-SEM it is sensitive to the complexity of the model and level of sample size - so with the addition of an
interaction term, NFI underestimates model The primary fit index, in this case, should be the SRMR (0.071)50,
which is within the acceptable range. Brand Trust and Purchase Intention had moderately accurate R2 = 0.289
(adjusted 0.284) and R2 = 0.299 (adjusted 0.295), respectively, as explained by the model (both of which are in
the moderately accurate exploratory PLS-SEM models) (Hair et al., 2019).
Hypothesis Testing Summary
In addition, one significant negative direct relationship was found between Environmental Knowledge and Brand
Trust (EK → BT: 0 -210, t = 5.091, p = 0. 001) also, suggesting that customers with higher levels of knowledge
acquire less brand trust, not mentioning the moderated pathway. H1 is accepted: perceived greenwashing has a
significant negative impact on brand trust (β = -0.428, t = 11.494, p < 0.001, CI does not include zero). H2 is
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accepted: brand trust is a significant and positive predictor of purchase intention (β = +0.414, t = 10.061, p <
0.001). H3 is confirmed: the direct relationship (between perceived greenwashing and purchase intention) is
statistically significant (β = -0.221, t = 4.568, p < 0.001), which means that the effect of perceived greenwashing
on the purchase intent is both direct and indirect. H4 is supported: the indirect effect PGW→BT→PI is
significant (β = −0.177, p < 0.001), with a bootstrapped 95% CI of [−0.228, −0.133] that fully excludes zero.
But since the direct path (H3) is also noteworthy the mediation is only partial and not complete: brand trust
moderates the association between perceived greenwashing and purchase intention only partially. H5 is upheld:
the interaction term EK x PGW is a strong predictor of BT (β = -0.258, t = 5.191, p < 0.001) which supports the
strong amplifying effect of Environmental Knowledge in greenwashing on trust.
Hypothesis
Path coefficient β
T statistic
Bootstrap 95%
Validity
H1
−0.428*
11.494
(−0.499, −0.351)
Supported
H2
+0.414*
10.061
(+0.333, +0.494)
Supported
H3
−0.221*
4.568
(−0.314, −0.126)
Supported
H4
−0.177*
7.348
(−0.228, −0.133)
Supported
H5
−0.258*
5.191
(−0.346, −0.161)
Supported
Table 7: Hypothesis Testing Summary
*p < 0.001.
DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
The results of this paper are in line with and complement the emerging empirical evidence of greenwashing,
brand trust, and purchase intention in sustainability marketing. The most notable finding is the support of the
partial mediation (H4): perceived greenwashing has the significant direct negative impact on purchase intention
(H3 supported, β = -0.221, p < 0.001) and indirect negative impact through brand trust ( 0.177, p < 0.001). The
trend implies that Karnataka consumers undermine their purchase intention by using two channels: on the one
hand, greenwashing, as a perception, undermines brand trust, which, in turn, has a negative impact on purchase
intention; on the other hand, greenwashing has a direct attitudinal recoil that does not require brand trust. There
is a theoretical implication on this: it deduces that the point of commercial abuse of a brand, through
greenwashing, is not confined to trust-mediating processes, but directly at the point of perception. It is an
extension of the results of Chen and Chang (2013) who found that the relationships between greenwashing and
trust work through confusion and perceived risk, since it demonstrates that an attitudinal-based relationship is
also direct as well as mediated by trust.
The negative impact of PGW on BT (H1 supported, β = -0.428) and the positive impact of BT on PI (H2
supported, 0.414) are as expected by Di Pillo et al. (2025) who reported a positive validation of greenwashing
as the most negative predictor of green purchase intention in their sample, which consisted of Italian Gen Z
participants. Notably, the attained results indicate partial, but not full, mediation: although brand trust mediates
a considerable amount of the PGW→PI connection (indirect effect 1 = -0.177), a strong direct impact of the
predictor (PGW) on the outcome (PI) remains (1 = -0.221, H3 accepted). It implies that, in the market of herbal
shampoos in Karnataka, there is an erosion of purchase intention by perceived greenwashing by reducing brand
trust, and having a direct attitudinal recoil independent of brand trust. The immediate emotional or moral reaction
with regard to perceived deception that involves no cognitive mediator of trust reassessment may be quantified
in the direct effect.
The outcome of the moderation (H5 supported, β = -0.258, p less than 0.001) is not only statistically sound, but
also theoretically important. Brand trust is affected to a significantly greater extent when perceived as
greenwashed by consumers with greater Environmental Knowledge, i.e. those who can read labels, are
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knowledgeable of certifications and identify particular harmful chemicals. The size of the effect (f 2 = 0.088,
small-to-medium) has the practical meaning. This conclusion is in contrast to threads of the environmental
psychology literature which locate knowledge as a protective or buffering force. In the Karnataka herbal
shampoo setting, Environmental Knowledge is more of an amplifier than a buffer: the knowledge will enable
the consumers to identify greenwashing with accuracy, transforming analogous suspicions into sweeter than
honey credibility penalties. It aligns with Sajid et al. (2025) and Keilmann and Koch (2025), who established
that increased consumer knowledge of sustainability claims amplified the scepticism and the penalty of trust, but
not buffering.
Another structural route, which should be considered, is the substantial negative direct impact of Environmental
Knowledge on Brand Trust (EK → BT: β = −0.210, p < 0.001). This paradoxical result implies a rather
unexpected conclusion that consumers, who are more environmentally literate, in fact, show lesser trust to herbal
shampoo brands regardless of the interaction of greenwashing. One of these is that the better-informed consumer
has a more skeptical evaluation filter on brand claims, becoming aware of the disconnect between what is
marketed as herbal based on the credentials and the actual composition of the ingredients. This is in line with
the trend in publications by Sajid et al. (2025), in which increased awareness to sustainability matters created
more scepticism instead of lessening them. The implication of this finding is on the ways that brands interact
with environmentally literate consumers: one should consider greater not less importance of transparency and
third-party verification with an increase in consumer knowledge.
The R 2 is rather small 0.289 and 0.299 of BT and PI, respectively, which is characteristic of the exploratory
sustainability research models that are based on PLS-SEM (Hair et al., 2019). The concept of brand trust in
herbal FMCG setting is dependent on numerous factors in addition to greenwashing perception such as brand
heritage, access to offline advisor, family usage patterns, and actual experience with ingredients, and these values
mirror that fact without overshadowing the importance of the individual pathways investigated. The SRMR of
0.071 is within the acceptable range defined by Henseler et al. (2015); the NFI of 0.774 is not as high as the
conventional 0.90 value and is considered a limitation of the given model setup, which can be probably explained
by the introduction of the interaction term that complicates the model.
CONCLUSION
This research aimed at the testing of a moderated mediation model in the greenwashing perception, brand trust
and purchase intention in the herbal shampoo market in Karnataka. The findings not only confirm the validity
of the two-pathway operation of perceived greenwashing on purchase intention but also, partial mediation is
affirmed, where a significant immediate impact exists on purchase-based decision-making (β = -0.221) in
addition to significant indirectly mediated by brand trust ( -0.177). Environmental Knowledge augments the trust
erosion effect, so not everybody consumer education defends the brand against greenwash ripple: rather, it
elevates the analytically subtly consumer group that quantifies the suggested perceived flam, not just by
collapsing trust, as well as by simply and autonomously withdrawing purchase intention.
They possess implications in practice to the herbal FMCG brands, policymakers and even educators. To brands,
the message is clear, greenwashing is not a grey area in marketing and as such it has a systemic ability to kill the
trust upon which future purchase behaviour rides upon. Brands which invest in an authentic certification
(ECOCERT, India Organic, COSMOS) labelling of ingredients, verifiable sustainability statements will create
the credibility they will need to maintain purchase intention, especially in the same segment of environmentally-
conscious Karnataka consumers which are increasing. Brands that are based on imprecise botanical imagery or
false claims about naturalness increasingly risk losing credibility due to enhanced knowledge among the
consumer.
To the policy makers and the regulators, the results confirm the need to introduce more definitional guidelines
on what is meant by herbal claims, natural claims and organic claims on personal care products. There is the
informational asymmetry that makes greenwashing more possible and harmful because of the current regulatory
environment that mostly does not define these terms in the FMCG context. With a tiered certification system
like the frameworks that have been in operation in the European Union under the EU Green Claims Directive,
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the uncertainty that has allowed shallow greenwashing would be minimized, and the genuinely differentiated
herbal brands would be rewarded.
To educators and institutions, the increase of greenwashing sensitivity due to Environmental Knowledge implies
that sustainability literacy programmes, i.e., those programs that train to read labels, certification awareness and
abilities of the consumer, to scrutinize eco-claims, are highly likely to create a more enlightened and more
demanding consumer. This will impact the lateral organization of herbal FMCG markets in India as Gen Z and
millennial consumer, more likely to have received formal environmental education, achieve a greater share in
the market.
Theoretical Contributions
This research contributes in three ways to the current body of research on greenwashing, brand trust and
sustainability marketing in Indian context.
To begin with, it determines the partially mediated role of brand trust in the PGW to PI relationship in the herbal
personal care market in India. Although in certain international situations full mediation was identified, the
current result of partial mediation explains the process: the loss of purchase intention is caused by greenwashing
indirectly (erosion of trust, β = -0.177) and directly (through attitudinal channel, β = -0.221) without
intermediation of trust. The dual-channel result indicates that greenwashing perception in the context of the
Karnataka herbal shampoo market does not only cause a reassessment of cognitive trust but also prompts a direct
emotional or moral disgust that in turn inhibits purchases intention in the market but then separately. Theoretical
implications of this include the specification of the greenwashing models in the Indian consumer setting and the
need to speculate trust-focused interventions to help regain the purchase intention in full measure after the
greenwashing is detected.
Second, it statistically shows that Environmental Knowledge increases instead of mitigates the negative impact
of greenwashing on brand trust ( 0.258, p < 0.001, f 2 = 0.088). This questions a line of the environmental
psychology literature, which considers consumer knowledge as a defense against marketing manipulation. Also
in the context of the herbal FMCG, consumer knowledge can make consumers more adept at detecting
greenwashing, by turning what might be an otherwise diffuse scepticism into a harsh punishment of trust. Such
a kind of interaction develops much power to its conclusions because this effect is a contributor to the effect of
knowledge amplification in this regard. The suggestion of this subtlety is in how knowledge-building
programmes are framed by the brands and on the teachers.
Third, the study also indicates a validated PLS-SEM to explore the topic of greenwashing in the Indian herbal
personal care segment. This four-construct reflective and 16-item tool whose statistical measure of reliability
and validity is confirmed may be one of the methodological foundations of future studies examining whether
addition of other variables such as social media exposure, regulatory awareness or price sensitivity, moderate or
mediate the greenwashing-trust-intention relationship.
Managerial Implications
In the case of brand managers and marketing directors in the herbal FMCG industry, the partial mediation result
puts the risk of greenwashing squarely in a new context of a reputational nuisance into a multi-channel structural
threat. Perceived greenwashing lowers purchase intention not only due to its eroding brand trust, but due to a
direct recoil effect i.e., the effect of trust-repair activity on purchase intention cannot alone restore purchase
intention following consumer perceptions of deception. Whenever a practice evokes the perception of
greenwashing, such as an ambiguous eco-labelling, false certification, or the discrepancy between marketing
assertions and product formulations, then the directly and quantitatively costly aspect is the loss of consumer
retention. In addition to its brand health tracking, brands ought to hire trust audits periodically, considering both
the trust measurements and direct buying intent indications early warning signs.
An implication of the moderation by Environmental Knowledge is quite practical and can be easily ignored: the
higher the consumer education, the heavier the penalty against greenwashing. It is to be expected that in
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Karnataka, brands with a relatively high educational attainment, will experience a rapidly growing trust penalty
on eco-claim vagueness in the next 10 years. No less of an environmental messaging is the strategic response,
but to make an investment in justifying it - by third-party accreditation, QR-code-based ingredient disclosure,
and consumer initiative round genuine sustainability projects.
The voluntary codes of conduct with minimal evidentiary threshold bases of herbal and natural claims, as well
as a distinction of these and certified organic products would provide products who follow the code with credible
differentiation platform, and a sense of accountability to products that do not follow the commendation.
Study limitations.
This research has a number of limitations, which must be mentioned together with the results. To begin with, the
400-respondent sample, sufficient in the PLS-SEM methodology, restricts the generalisation of results in terms
of the entire heterogeneity of the consumer base of Karnataka (Hair et al., 2019). The consumer literacy,
accessibility to the digital world, and familiarity with the brands of the herbal FMCGs have significant urban-
rural disparities in Karnataka; overall, a larger stratified sample would benefit the findings.
Second, cross-sectional design will measure the perceptions at a single point in time. Considering the fast rate
of regulation evolution of the Indian personal care market and increased consumer dialogues about greenwashing
on operating platforms like Instagram and YouTube, the perception of trust and sensitivity towards eco-markets
might change significantly within a comparatively limited period. To be able to make a causal inference
regarding the effects of greenwashing after the crimes on the trust curves, longitudinal designs that follow the
identical respondent panel in a period of 12-24 months would be a viable option.
Following, a potential threat to the validity of the findings is in the self-reported likert scale data, which may
lead to common method variance and social desirability bias particularly in the questions that require the
respondent to think about what he/she knows and what he/ she thinks the brand is deceiving them about.
Respondents can overrate their Environmental Knowledge or inflate the greenwashing imaginations in line with
the perceived social expectations. Some observational data triangulation (acquisition of actual label-reading
behaviour during making the in-store purchase decisions) would be a more objective measure.
Fourth, the model offers an explanation of 28.9% of variability in brand trust and 29.9% in purchase intention,
which left a large part of a variability unexplainable by this model. Price sensitivity, offline advisor networks,
family brand loyalty, actual ingredient experience, exposure to influencer content around herbal products are
probably other variables that act in conjunction with the constructs explored in this study.
Future Research Directions
This research presents some opportunities to continue the research in the future. The moderated mediation model
can be further expanded by further adding some moderators that are especially specific to the Indian market:
consumer scepticism, and the impact of the content of social media influencers on herbal brand perceptions.
Since the use of social media as a means of herbal products promotion is developing at a high pace in India,
exploring the interaction between social media influencer and greenwashing perception would be a fruitful
development.
A five-city tier (Tier 1) city (Bangalore), six levels (Tier 2), and a rural Karnataka district (Tier 3) comparative
design would examine the hypothesis that the moderated mediation framework is maintained at various levels
of institutional access, and digital access. Tier 2 and Tier 3 research is most pressing since with mass herbal
FMCG brands like Patanjali and Meera, the maximum portion of market penetration occurs in non-metro
regions, where consumers might have lesser access to the institutional cues that define the true meaning of herbal
certification and superficial green advertising.
The enduring effects of exposure to greenwashing on recovery of brand trust might also be the focus of a future
study. It is proven in the current study that greenwashing destroys trust, but it does not provide the answer as to
when and how that trust can be restored after a greenwashing has occurred. Experimental designs intervention
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into the character of a corrective response of a brand i.e., transparent apology and corrective reformulation,
purchase of third-party certification or further denial would yield directly applicable advice on how to respond
to a brand crisis in the herbal FMCG setting.
Lastly, the incorporation of the behavioural data of real purchase transactions and/or loyalty programme data, or
e-commerce (Clickstream) data in terms of behaviour-based data would render the relationship between the trust
and the intention data in this study to translate into actual behavioural results, which would help researchers to
address the aforementioned issue of the attitude-behaviour gap that persistently affects sustainability marketing
study.
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