Greenwashing Ad Perception

What it measures

Seven items assess the extent to which a consumer perceives a specific advertisement as deceptive in its environmental claims — through vague, exaggerated, incomplete, or false green information. Schmuck, Matthes, and Naderer (2018) developed the scale by adapting five items from Chen and Chang (2013) and adding two further items. The scale was applied in Studies 1 and 2 using U.S. and German consumer samples respectively.

Response format

7-point Likert (1=strongly disagree, 7=strongly agree)

Scale items

• This ad misleads with words in its environmental features.
• This ad misleads with visuals or graphics in its environmental features.
• This ad possesses a green claim that is vague.
• This ad exaggerates what the product's green functionality actually is.
• This ad masks important information, which makes the green claim sound better than it is.
• This ad uses information about environmental features that is false.
• This ad does not tell the truth about the product's green functionality.

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

Alpha was .93 in Study 2 (German sample). CFA confirmed that this scale and the brand nature evocation scale loaded on separate factors, supporting discriminant validity. Items 1 and 2 contain the phrase 'in its environmental features,' which may be ambiguous; users may wish to consider clearer wording. Items 6 and 7 were added by Schmuck et al.; the original five items came from Chen and Chang (2013).

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Schmuck, D., Matthes, J., & Naderer, B. (2018). Misleading consumers with green advertising? An affect–reason–involvement account of greenwashing effects in environmental advertising. Journal of Advertising, 47(2), 127–145.

Keywords