A new study has suggested that purchasing managers, despite their professional expertise, are just as susceptible as the general public to greenwashing.
The study, by Owais Khan and Andreas Hinterhuber at the Venice School of Management, surveyed 465 purchasing managers at European companies, assessing their willingness to pay for products with misleading green claims compared to those with verified certifications.
Procurement scenarios
Three procurement scenarios were presented – for laptops, safety gloves, and copy paper. ‘These products were chosen to represent common procurement scenarios across a wide range of industries,’ the researchers state. ‘To ensure the relevance of these choices, two highly experienced purchasing professionals were consulted during the design phase.’
In two of the three cases, managers showed a slightly higher willingness to pay for ‘greenwashed’ products than for certified alternatives.
‘This suggests that misleading environmental claims can be just as persuasive as certified sustainability credentials, raising concerns about the effectiveness of current eco-labeling systems and the ability of professionals to navigate sustainability marketing,’ the researchers state.
Lack of standardisation
As the study notes, a lack of standardisation among sustainability certifications – with more than 400 different eco-labels in operation around the world – creates confusion for both consumers and professionals.
‘Trust in sustainability claims is a decisive factor shaping procurement decisions,’ the researchers state. ‘If certifications lack credibility due to contradictory standards, unclear messaging, or perceived industry bias, purchasing managers may default to treating all environmental claims with skepticism. This risks undermining sustainability initiatives, as professionals may struggle to differentiate between legitimate environmental efforts and marketing-driven green claims. Strengthening trust in eco-labeling requires enhanced transparency, independent verification, and harmonisation of certification standards to reduce ambiguity and improve decision-making reliability.’
They urge businesses, policymakers, and certification bodies to work together to improve transparency and credibility in sustainability claims, while also calling on organisations to integrate ‘sustainability literacy’ programmes for purchasing managers, helping them critically evaluate environmental claims.
At a regulatory level, the European Commission’s proposed Green Claims Directive is a step in the right direction, the researchers note.
‘However, to make these regulatory efforts effective, stronger enforcement mechanisms are needed. […] Regulatory bodies should expand market surveillance programs, conduct randomised audits of sustainability claims, and impose financial penalties for misleading greenwashing practices. Additionally, policymakers should promote real-time claim verification technologies, such as QR code-based product labeling linked to verified environmental impact data,’ they add. Read more here.
