Abstract
For many energy companies in China, green brand strategy is becoming an important approach to enhance competitive advantage. However, greenwashing behaviors result in a crisis of trust. Existing research focuses on green marketing, but is silent on the institutional view of the trust crisis resulting from greenwashing by energy brands. Thus, this study takes a decoupling perspective from institutional theory and considers legitimacy, energy policy management, and green brand theories to shed light on the path from the decoupling of an energy brand from green promise (DEBG) to green energy brand trust (GEBT) and the role of brand legitimacy and brand loyalty. It then analyzes survey data to conclude that DEBG not only has a direct negative effect on GEBT but also has an indirect influence through the vital mediating role of green energy brand legitimacy. Moreover, brand loyalty is a moderating factor and can alleviate the energy brand trust crisis. These findings not only can enrich the theories of energy brand management and green marketing but also offer important implications for energy policy management.
Conclusions and Discussion
While the world faces serious environmental pollution problems, partly resulting from energy companies, energy customers, especially in China, increasingly prefer environmentally friendly energy products and brands (Chen 2010; Herbes and Ramme 2014; Salmela and Varho 2005). For example, under pressure from the public, government, customers, media, and other stakeholders for greater environmental protection, the three largest energy companies (i.e., Sinopec, PetroChina, and CNOOC) supplied green products and brands to gain support and social fit. Specifically, after Sinopec took approximately 50 million dollars to build new green gas stations and promote new green energy brands, it gained financial or popular support from the government and public of Qingdao City, China (Liu 2008). On February 25th of this year, Sinopec spokesman Lv Dapeng said in the Global Compact China Internet Conference thatthe ‘‘ClearWater and Blue Sky’’ environmental protection plan would invest approximately 2.3 billion dollars to complete 472 environmental improvement projects. This would account for more than half of the total number of projects, which include the reduction of major pollutants, treatment of volatile organic compounds, odor control, and environmental risk control to improve the company’s reputation and support from the public and government (Zhang 2014). PetroChina invested approximately 2.6 billion dollars into environmental protection and introduced green products and brands, earning strong rapport from local dealers, the media, and the government (Shi 2008), CNOOC put approximately 2.5 billion dollars into building its new energy production base and brands, gaining a good reputation from the local public and government in Tianjin, China (Wu 2009).
