This eleven-item scale measures the degree to which a consumer believes a product overstates its environmental friendliness and sustainability, coming across as insincere, hypocritical, and intended to mislead. Steenis, van Herpen, van der Lans, and van Trijp (2023) used it with an online panel of Dutch consumers and a sample of Dutch university students in experiments on packaged products whose sustainability is only partly consistent with their green claims. The authors built the items from words, phrases, and ideas found in Wagner, Lutz, and Weitz (2009), Chang (2011), Chen and Chang (2013), and De Vries et al. (2015).
7-point Likert (1 = fully disagree, 7 = fully agree)
Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.
Alphas were .933 (Experiment 1, n = 609) and .939 (Experiment 2, n = 409) (Steenis et al. 2023, p. 177); validity was not discussed. Items 3, 4, and 8 are reverse-scored. Directions: 'Indicate the extent to which you agree with the following statements.' The items draw on four prior sources but were written for this study rather than taken from any one of them. See also Corporate Hypocrisy (ID 2196), Perceived Corporate Greenwashing Scale (ID 393), Greenwashing Ad Perception (ID 913), and Attitude Toward "Green" Products (Environmental Benefits) (ID 1965).
Steenis, Nigel D., Erica van Herpen, Ivo A. van der Lans, and Hans C. M. van Trijp (2023), "Partially Green, Wholly Deceptive? How Consumers Respond to (In)Consistently Sustainable Packaged Products in the Presence of Sustainability Claims," Journal of Advertising, 52 (2), 159-178.
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