Greenhushing: the deliberate under communicating of sustainability practices by tourism businesses

ABSTRACT

Greenhushing selectively communicates fewer pro-sustainability actions by businesses than are practiced; based on a perception of customers’ rights to consumerism. We first studied the gap between the communication of sustainability practices in the audits and websites of 31 small rural tourism businesses in the Peak District National Park (UK). The analysis showed that businesses only communicate 30% of all the sustainability actions practiced. Their websites emphasised customer benefits, using explicit, affective, experiential and active language that legitimises the customers’ hedonistic use of the landscape, while downplaying complex issues and normalising sustainability to reduce customer guilt. Just one website mentioned climate change. We found that greenhushing results from a low moral intensity, masking potentially negative consequences of perceived lower competence, whilst protecting business from more cynical consumers who may interpret their statements as hypocritical. Subsequent textual analysis and interviews were used to understand how communication constitutes these organisations. We propose that greenhushing reshapes and constitutes tourism businesses through their communications. Moreover, greenhushing is a form of public moralisation that adopts communication practices similar to greenwashing, reflecting the social norms expected from a business; however, in this case, located in a moral muteness, rather than moral hypocrisy, that businesses accept but resent.     

企业 “漂绿”研究的发展脉络、研究述评与未来展望

在“双碳”目标下,企业层面的碳减排对于中国社会绿色低碳转型至关重要。但企业为迎合监管、粉饰经营业绩具有“漂绿”倾向,即以虚假不实的方式对碳排放信息进行“粉饰”。目前相关研究方兴未艾,缺乏系统梳理,尚未形成对企业“漂绿”的完整认知。基于此,本文首先筛选梳理2003至2023年发表的263篇英文文献和142篇中文文献,以可视化方式科学呈现企业“漂绿”的发展脉络和研究主题。其次,系统梳理不同研究视角下企业“漂绿”的概念内涵、表现形式及识别测度技术,剖析其前因后果,凝练其治理对策。再次,对既有的企业“漂绿”研究进行述评,指明其研究前景和研究不足。最后,将企业“漂绿”置于复杂经济社会系统,提出未来研究值得探索突破的六大议题,即构建基于复杂经济社会系统的企业“漂绿”行为多维理论协同整合分析框架;强化对企业“漂绿”概念内涵的认知与解读;深化企业“漂绿”复杂影响因素及其交互作用的研究;拓展企业“漂绿”复杂作用机制和影响效应的研究;基于复杂组态视角拓展现有研究方法;拓展基于中国情境下的企业“漂绿”研究。本研究明确了企业“漂绿”的发展脉络和未来方向,为后续基于中国情境开展有关企业“漂绿”的复杂系统研究提供了思路。     

业绩期望落差与企业“漂绿”行为

针对企业“漂绿”问题屡禁不止的现状,分析了业绩期望落差对企业“漂绿”行为的影响机理,并以2010—2019年A股重污染行业上市公司为样本进行实证检验。研究发现：业绩期望落差会诱发企业“漂绿”行为,且主要表现为对环境实践的选择性披露;而且,业绩期望落差持续的时间越长,其对企业“漂绿”行为的影响越显著。进一步的路径检验表明,业绩期望落差会恶化企业融资约束和加剧管理层短视,进而导致“漂绿”行为。此外,不同类型规制工具对“漂绿”的治理效应存在差异,其中,命令控制型环境规制及本地媒体监督能够抑制业绩期望落差驱动的企业“漂绿”行为,但市场激励型、公众参与型环境规制以及异地媒体监督的治理效应不明显。     

大型零售商漂绿行为的危害、成因与治理

受利益驱动和外在生存环境的压力,大型零售商普遍存在漂绿行为。这一行为导致了绿色商品市场的逆向选择,鼓励了制造商的漂绿行为,并最终影响了绿色经济的实现。社会对绿色经济的追逐,消费者对绿色消费的偏好,以及信息不对称和惩罚力度不足等,是造成这一行为的重要因素。为此,应通过加强政府的规制和监管,充分发挥消费者和NGO的作用,减轻绿色商品市场中的信息不对称,强化大型零售商的社会责任理念等,实现对大型零售商漂绿行为的有效治理。     

企业漂绿行为的地区同群效应--来自中国工业上市公司的经验证据

利用中国沪深A股工业上市公司样本,从地区同群效应的视角,研究企业漂绿行为的传染效应。研究结果表明我国企业的漂绿行为在同一区域内存在显著的同群效应,目标企业的漂绿程度与同区域其他企业漂绿程度显著正相关。通过对地区同群效应产生的潜在机制进行考察,发现企业漂绿地区同群效应主要是由社会学习机制和竞争性模仿机制驱动的,进一步对漂绿同群效应治理机制的检验结果表明,政府环境监管力度的加强与媒体关注度的提高均能对企业漂绿地区同群效应起到一定的威慑和阻断作用,二者的协同配合能够实现更好的治理效果。     

Social cynicism,greenwashing, and trust in green clothing brands

This research develops a theoretical model of the effect of social cynicism as a personality trait on trust in green clothing brands. We conducted an online survey of a representative Australian sample to test the hypothesized relationships. Our findings confirmed that social cynicism affected green brand trust negatively and that this effect can be explained by an increase in perceived greenwashing. Conspicuous consumption moderates this indirect influence. This mediated influence decreased when conspicuous consumption was more salient. Findings provide important practical insights for brand managers intending to avoid a decrease in brand trust regarding garments marketed with sustainability claims.     

企业漂绿行为的研究综述与展望

现今漂绿现象愈发普遍,但学术界对漂绿的相关研究还不够深入,现有研究多从利益相关者、信号理论角度出发。尽管近年来制度理论视角的漂绿文章在逐步增多,却未有一个系统性的研究论述。论文结合近30年国内外关于漂绿的相关研究成果,对企业漂绿行为的驱动因素与后果的相关文献进行梳理归纳。并基于新制度理论视角,从合法性三种维度、同构的三种类型等方面分析企业漂绿的前因后果,提出未来的研究方向,并为未来研究和企业、政府、媒体实践提供参考。     

Effects of greenwashing on financial performance: Moderation through local environmental regulation and media coverage

Recent research suggests that the effect of greenwashing and corporate financial performance (CFP) is ambiguous. This call for study the contextual factors that create contingencies in the greenwashing–CFP relationship. Using a sample of 2816 observations covering 735 Chinese-listed firms in 21 different industries from 2013 to 2017, this research examines the effect of greenwashing on CFP and explores the moderating effects of local environmental regulation, media visibility and media favourability. Results show that greenwashing positively affects CFP and effect weakened with stringent environmental regulations and reversed with low media favourability. Our finding implies that stakeholders could hardly identify greenwashing in the context of an emerging economy with high-level information asymmetry. However, local environmental regulation and negative media coverage could reduce this information asymmetry, making greenwashing easier to be identified. It is the first study to investigate greenwashing–CFP relationship from institutional environment perspective.