Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become an important marketing tool to attract customers and to be competitive on the market. For this to succeed, the customers must have trust and confidence for corporate communication. To a certain extent the unveiling of various scandals, which point to corporations exaggerating their CSR contributions, has compromised this trust especially with regards to the claims of environmental nature. Greenwash is a relatively new phenomenon where companies either try to hide their negative impact on the environment, or exaggerate their positive activities for a sustainable future. Because of this, customers’ confidence in companies who market their responsibilities deteriorates over time and may discourage companies to work with CSR.
The main purpose of this paper is to assess the Swedish consumers trust in retail companies that engage in CSR marketing. In relation to the purpose of this paper, a quantitative survey was carried out in order to ask consumers their trust in the companies’ eco marketing and what factors can enhance their trust. Correlation analysis is then used to see if there is a correlation between the trust and the factors included in the theoretical framework.
Empirical results conclude that Swedish consumers generally have a relatively high trust in a company’s eco marketing. Despite this, consumers believe that companies are exaggerating in their eco marketing. On the other hand, environmental issues have become the major interest for Swedish consumers. There are significant correlations between three of the factors and the trust. These factors are relationship, performance and appearance. The results show that consumers whom have a good relationship with companies positively affects the trust. Companies’ performance referring to environmental activities can increase the trust if they do not use hazardous chemicals and offer a variety of green range products. Furthermore, it can be stated that the results have highlighted the importance of the factor appearance with regard to the means of communication, which inspires the greatest confidence. Thus, consumers state that communication through in store signage and on the website are trustworthy marketing methods.