The Impact of Green Brand Crises on Green Brand Trust: An Empirical Study

Abstract

In recent years, brand crises and greenwashing events have become common for Chinese consumers. However, compared to ordinary brands, it is more challenging for green brands to rebuild trust relationships with consumers after a green brand crisis due to their unique energy-saving and environmental protection attributes. The impact mechanism of green brand crises on consumer trust is complicated. To evaluate the different effects of different types of crises, this study used a sample of more than 1000 questionnaires to allow a regressive analysis, robustness test, endogenous test, mechanism test, and heterogeneity analysis. The study’s results show that product functional and value-related crises harm green brand trust, and both brand perceived value and perceived risk play an intermediary role in the mechanism. Brand familiarity plays an essential role in the relationship between the green brand crisis and green brand trust.