determine if companies are intentionally choosing long-term goals that drive lower consumer interest, so consumers will forget ant not hold them accountable for completing the initiative.
The purpose of this experiment is to determine:
- Why ‘greenwashing’ is so effective, by investigating what past green initiatives of real-world brands are remembered by consumers (i.e. determine if companies are intentionally choosing long-term goals that drive lower consumer interest, so consumers will forget ant not hold them accountable for completing the initiative.)
- Whether respondents believe specified green initiatives are possible, or what is limiting progress toward them.
- The amount of weight consumers place on third-party reviews of green initiatives, depending on the level of data presented by the third-party for or against a green initiative, based on their preexisting opinion of green initiatives.
- How often and how much data on green initiatives will hold consumer attention.
Hypotheses:
H1a: longer time to attain will be viewed as more likely than shorter time to attain goals.
H1b: longer time to attain will be viewed less favorably than shorter time to attain goals.
H2a: smaller scale goals will be viewed as more likely than large scale goals.
H2b: smaller scale goals will be viewed less favorably than large scale goals.
H3a: at a shorter time to attain, scale of the goal will have a significant difference.
H3b: At longer time to attain, scale of the goal will have no significant difference.
To prevent respondents knowledge/opinion of real green initiatives from interfering with results, respondents will be given a short summary of the fictional company, with information on name of company, age of company, number of locations/facilities, market, and a statement that the company has accomplished 0% of the stated goal so far.
| Measuring
Attitude toward green initiative |
Goal – small
Completely renewable energy for company |
Goal – large
Completely renewable energy for the world |
| Time to attain – short
10 years |
Company will supply itself with 100% renewable energy within 10 years | Company will supply the world with 100% renewable energy within 10 years |
| Time to attain – long
30 years |
Company will supply itself with 100% renewable energy within 30 years | Company will supply the world with 100% renewable energy within 30 years |
