Sustainability information overload: Its effect on customers’ greenwashing perceptions, perceived value, and behavioral intentions

Abstract

Little is known about the effect of perceived sustainability information overload on customers' perceptions of greenwashing, perceived value, and behavioral intentions, nor how this effect is contingent on the customers' expectations of sustainability practices. To address the impact of information overload, we integrate the Stimuli-Organism-Response (S-O-R) model with the media richness theory, and the expectation-confirmation theory. An online survey measured 808 British and German travelers' expectations of hotels’ sustainability practices and exposed them to a sustainability scorecard. The results show that perceived information overload increases perceived greenwashing and has a negative impact (via greenwashing) on ethical-expressive and altruistic values. This is a challenge for hotel managers, as perceived value positively affects self-reported booking intentions and electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM) recommendations. Furthermore, customer expectations of sustainability practices moderate i) the positive relationship between information overload and greenwashing, and ii) the relationship between greenwashing and perceived value. Higher customer expectations of sustainability practices strengthen the effect of perceived information overload on perceived greenwashing. However, unexpectedly, the higher expectations of sustainability practices weaken the impact of perceived greenwashing on ethical-expressive and altruistic values, suggesting that customers with high sustainability expectations may be more forgiving of a certain amount of greenwashing than others.