Green Branding in the Digital Era: The Role of Influencer Credibility and Greenwashing in Shaping Brand Authenticity, Trust and Purchase Intentions

This study examines digital sustainability signals and the psychological mechanisms (authenticity and trust) that relate to consumers’ sustainable food purchase intentions. While the attitude–behavior gap remains a persistent challenge in sustainability research, our study focuses on upstream factors that may help explain why intentions vary in strength. Drawing on signaling theory, this research develops and tests a framework that combines positive signals (e.g., influencer credibility) and negative signals (e.g., perceived greenwashing) to investigate the impact on green brand authenticity, brand trust, and purchase intention. Data were gathered from a survey of 324 adult social media users who follow…