Unverifiable Green Signals and Consumer Response in E-Commerce: Evidence from Platform-Level Data

Shibo Zhang, Chengcheng Wu (), Xinzhu Yan, Yingxue Chen and Hongguo Shi
Additional contact information
Shibo Zhang: School of Automobile & Transportation, Xihua University, Chengdu 610039, China
Chengcheng Wu: School of Automobile & Transportation, Xihua University, Chengdu 610039, China
Xinzhu Yan: School of Automobile & Transportation, Xihua University, Chengdu 610039, China
Yingxue Chen: School of Automobile & Transportation, Xihua University, Chengdu 610039, China
Hongguo Shi: School of Transportation and Logistics, Southwest Jiaotong University, 111 2nd Ring Rd North Section 1, Jin Jinniu District, Chengdu 610039, China

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 13, 1-15

Abstract: This study investigates the effects of unverifiable green signals—vague environmental claims, trust-substitute cues, and function-stacking—on consumer purchasing behaviors in e-commerce settings. Using detailed product-level data collected from two major Chinese online platforms, Taobao and Pinduoduo, during the peak shopping period in November 2023, we analyze the impact of these signals on product sales using ordinary least squares (OLS), instrumental variable (IV), and propensity score matching (PSM) methods. Results indicate that vague environmental language and function-stacking significantly boost sales across platforms, highlighting consumers’ preference for easily interpretable and seemingly comprehensive products. However, trust-substitute signals exhibit mixed effects, with them being beneficial on platforms with stronger credibility frameworks (Taobao) and less effective or even detrimental on platforms characterized by price competition and weaker governance (Pinduoduo). This study contributes to the literature on consumer trust and digital greenwashing by identifying platform-specific responses to unverifiable eco-claims and underscoring the importance of heuristic processing theories and trust formation mechanisms in digital marketing contexts. These findings underscore the complex dynamics of greenwashing strategies and stress the necessity for enhanced regulation and clearer communication standards to protect consumers and genuinely support sustainable consumption.

Keywords: e-commerce platforms; greenwashing; consumer behavior; vague and trust-substitute signals (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/13/5678/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/13/5678/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:13:p:5678-:d:1683347

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().