The effect of greenwashing on online consumer engagement: A comparative study in France, Germany, Turkey, and the United Kingdom

Abstract

The effect of the Volkswagen emission crisis in 2015, the biggest greenwashing event in recent years, on the online consumer engagement of Facebook brand pages was investigated in France, Germany, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. These countries have been selected for the reason that Volkswagen sales and diesel-engine cars and the use of social media are quite common. For 6 years in these four countries, the likes, comments, and shares made by consumers on the Facebook brand page of Volkswagen have been examined. The monthly dataset covers January 2012 to December 2017. The obtained data were analyzed with autoregressive-moving average models. Despite a globally positive approach to green products, countries' attitudes toward greenwashing have been significantly different. The findings showed that online consumer engagement was negative in the United Kingdom and Turkey and in a positive direction in Germany, whereas there was no change in France in the fourth quarter of 2015.