Journal of Cleaner Production 242 (2020) 116064

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

Review

Fuzzy inference system to study the behavior of the green consumer

facing the perception of greenwashing
Marta Paga
n Martínez a, *, Camila Pires Cremasco b, Luís Roberto Almeida Gabriel Filho b,
Sergio Silva Braga Junior b, Adriano Viana Bednaski a, Filipe Quevedo-Silva a,
Caroline Miranda Correa b, Dirceu da Silva c, Rosamaria Cox Moura-Leite Padgett a
a
Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul e UFMS/Esan, Avda. Senador Filinto Muller, 1555, Vila Ipiranga, 79046-460, Campo Grande, MS, Brazil
b
Sao Paulo State University e UNESP/ School of Sciences and Engineering - FCE. R, Domingos da Costa Lopes, 780 - Jardim Itaipu, 17602-496, Tupa~, SP,
Brazil
c
ria, 13083865, Campinas, Sa
State University of Campinas e Unicamp / School of Education, Avenida Bertrand Russell, 801, Cidade Universita ~o Paulo, SP,
Brazil

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: With increased consumption of green products, organizations have promoted their products and services
Received 8 March 2018 as green to attract an environmentally growing segment. However, 98% of the products advertised as
Received in revised form green have some element characterized as greenwashing, affecting consumer satisfaction. Given the
4 March 2019
need to classify subjective, ambiguous and imprecise indicators as consumer satisfaction degree of green
Accepted 5 March 2019
Available online 31 August 2019
products, a computational model of measurement is proposed that incorporates fuzzy logic techniques to
reduce the incidence of uncertainty in decision analysis processes, facilitating decision-making. The
Handling Editor. Prof. Jiri Jaromir Klemes fuzzy rule-based system created allows the efficient handling of uncertainties and vagueness of input
data, measuring the relationships between various input variables to analyze consumer behavior and
Keywords: perception of greenwashing. The Mamdani's Inference Method was used to make different combinations
Green product of linguistic variables and to evaluate the relationship of these variables to consumer behavior, imple-
Green marketing menting a quantitative method of decision-making regarding the behavior of the variables. As a result, it
Sustainability is observed that greenwashing confuses and influences the consumer in green product confidence in
Satisfaction
retail. After the application of the system, it is concluded that the results are feasible and with the use of
Decision-making process
fuzzy logic, the system can help in the analysis and determination of the consumer satisfaction degree,
Mamdani
and can helps companies to make future forecasts about consumer behavior of green products. The
proposed approach enriches the information on the attitudes of green consumers when they perceive
greenwashing. Besides, the system facilitates the decision-making and actions of both consumers and
companies that apply the greenwashing as a marketing strategy.
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Literature review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.1. Green marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2. Greenwashing and green consumption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.3. Consumer behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: pagan.marta@gmail.com (M.P. Martínez), camila.cremasco@
unesp.br (C.P. Cremasco), gabriel.filho@unesp.br (L.R.A. Gabriel Filho), sergio@
tupa.unesp.br (S.S. Braga Junior), adriano.bednaski@ufms.br (A.V. Bednaski),
filquevedo@gmail.com (F. Quevedo-Silva), carolcorrea1@hotmail.com
(C.M. Correa), dirceuds@gmail.com (D. da Silva), rosamariamouraleite@gmail.com
(R.C. Moura-Leite Padgett).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.03.060
0959-6526/© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
2 M.P. Martínez et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 242 (2020) 116064

2.3.1. Perceived risk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

2.3.2. Perceived benefit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.3.3. Loyalty and satisfaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.4. Fuzzy inference systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.5. Mamdani's fuzzy inference method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3. Material and methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4. Results and discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.1. Validation of model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4.2. Validation of the scales and constructs of survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4.3. Validation of the normalized scales of FIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4.4. Discussion of the results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
5. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

1. Introduction Therefore, this practice has been demonstrating that it can un-
dermine consumer confidence, which generally relies on adver-
The theme related to the environmental question currently oc- tising and corporate messaging to make decisions (Hamann and
cupies a prominent position in the main headlines addressed by the Kappelus, 2004). Without trust in the advertising claims of com-
media, since this issue has been increasingly relevant for com- panies, consumers cannot decide on their green purchases because
panies and society, due to the growing market pressures mainly they do not know what to trust (Chen and Chang, 2013). Thus, these
from consumers who are becoming better informed and more practices reduce visual attention to truly ecological products
demanding regarding the products or services they purchase (Paiva (Guyader et al., 2017). The practice of disclosure of false or
and Proença, 2011). incomplete information by an organization to present an environ-
Consumers develop their perceptions of organic products ac- mentally responsible public image is called “Greenwashing”
cording to their own experiences or information received from (Furlow, 2010).
other sources (media, word of mouth, etc.), some consumers think Greenwashing has undermined consumer confidence in adver-
that organic products are expensive and others think that it is not tising as consumers often rely on corporate advertising to make
necessary to buy organic products based on the claim that they are decisions (Hamann and Kapelus, 2004). As a result, more and more
just a marketing trend (Coskun et al., 2016). Some of the aspects often, consumers pay attention to greenwashing and tend to reduce
mentioned can negatively influence the diffusion of the ecological consumption in favor of saving, repairing and reusing products
practices (Hervani et al., 2005; Lin, 2013; Mathiyazhagan et al., (Lewandowska et al., 2017). The perception of greenwashing stra-
2013). tegies harms consumer attitudes toward a company that commu-
However, consumers have shown that the fact of presenting a nicates its environmental performance (Parguel et al., 2011).
certain concern with the environment does not necessarily trans- The practice of greenwashing has caused consumer dissatis-
form their habits into green consumption since they do not always faction, loss of credibility, poor purchasing decisions, and inefficient
relate to the purchase of green products with environmental allocation of resources (Lewandowska et al., 2017). In order to
concern (Braga Junior et al., 2016; Tseng and Hung, 2013). Previous reduce this skepticism, businesses must allow consumers to obtain
studies such as Goldstein (2012) and Dan-li et al. (2011) allow to sufficient information (Hoedeman, 2002).
understand the behavior of the consumer in relation to organic In retail, when consumers make a purchasing decision, they
products. generally consider aspects such as satisfaction and loyalty (Wu and
Increased consumption of green products and services has Chen, 2014; Paul and Rana, 2012), risk and benefit perception (Chen
encouraged the adoption and communication of environmental and Chang, 2013; Wu and Chen, 2014; Correa et al., 2017) and
practices in many organizations to create a positive image for so- subjective and control forces (Wu and Chen, 2014; Hsu et al., 2016),
ciety (Delmas and Burano, 2011). Many companies try to associate attitudes and control behavior (Paul et al., 2016; Rana and Paul,
the image of their products with the environmental and social 2017) as compositional aspects for their purchasing behavior.
practices developed by them to show that they are in line with These terms can make consumers mistrust the product and create
market needs and trends since the product is the representative of confusion about green consumption. For this reason, greenwashing
the company regarding consumers (Correa et al., 2017). With this, applied by companies in their marketing actions was discussed
the environmental commitment has become an important variable (Dahl, 2010; Chen and Chang, 2013; Nyilasy et al., 2014).
within the competitive landscape. These authors were able to evaluate the consumers’ perception
In this context, retailing started to offer more green products focusing on one or more aspects presented and not all at the same
(Braga Júnior et al., 2016). Retailers play a key role in sustainability time. However, in order to advance about to previous studies, it is
initiatives because of their proximity to consumers. They can in- presented an innovative study where it is considered the percep-
fluence the consumer's green buying intent by displaying relevant tion and behavior of consumer in relation to greenwashing and
information, guiding them inside the store and offering a variety of green product consumption using together the presented aspects in
eco-friendly products (Guyader et al., 2017). the works of Chen and Chang (2013), Wu and Chen (2014), Braga
Nevertheless, some companies, to attract the consumer, often Junior et al. (2016), Hsu et al. (2016), Correa et al. (2017) (satisfac-
use claims that sound environmentally friendly, but are vague, and tion, loyalty, risk perception, and benefits perception) treated with
sometimes false (Parguel et al., 2011). With this, the consumer has fuzzy logic techniques. Therefore, the focus of the discussion in this
difficulty in identifying if the product is green. (Chen and Chang, study is: To what extent does the perception of greenwashing in-
2013). fluence consumer behavior and in his level of satisfaction?
 M.P. Martínez et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 242 (2020) 116064
Sometimes, measuring the influence on consumer perceptions
implies uncertainties associated with the ambiguity and subjec-
tivity of the instruments used to measure (Pe
rez and Rafael, 2012).
As a solution for this problem, a measurement and analysis system
that incorporates fuzzy logic techniques is proposed to reduce the
incidence of this uncertainty in the decision-making and analysis
processes based on the behavior of green product consumers and
their perception in the presence of the greenwashing. The theory of
fuzzy logic is a concept disseminated in different research studies
that have practical applications in most areas of study. Fuzzy logic
and inference techniques allow the analysis of results to include
subjective, vague, fuzzy, ambiguous, and inaccurate aspects of any
management model, which are usually overlooked due to the dif-
ficulty of treating them (Arango-Serna et al., 2012).
Based on these issues, the objective of this study was to develop
a rule-based fuzzy system to evaluate the behavior of consumers of
green products and their level of satisfaction facing the perception
of greenwashing in products. The accomplishment of this objective
is based on previous study where, through a survey carried out on
506 Brazilian consumers that living in the city of Sa ~o Paulo, the
aspects of deciding to buy green products perceived in the presence
of greenwashing and that affect the attitudes and beliefs of con-
sumers were analyzed.
Thus, in this study, it is proposed a new methodology for
generating models of green consumer satisfaction using the fuzzy
logic technique to analyze the level of satisfaction of consumers of
green products when they perceive the practice of greenwashing.
This will allow verifying empirically to what extent this method-
ology can complement the results derived from traditional statis-
tical methods. In this way, the relationship between satisfaction
and the perception of the greenwashing practice to understand the
behavior of the green consumer is studied. The unique character of
this study lies in the empirical derivation of fuzzy belonging
functions generated from the results obtained in the survey, thus
differentiating itself from the perspective of Lozano and Fuentes
(2003) and Tsai et al. (2008).
Stochastic models are often used to analyze variations subject to
distributions of statistical data. As an alternative to the static
methods usually used, it has the use of Fuzzy logic to model the
uncertainty, because through Fuzzy logic it is possible to describe
incomplete and imprecise information. The use of Fuzzy logic has
been used in problems of evaluation of agrarian, biological and
administrative phenomena is becoming an extremely efficient and
effective alternative to stochastic methods as shown in the cited
literature.
Thus, in this study, Fuzzy logic was used with the Mamdani
inference method as the first alternative to understanding the
relationship between the variables studied and to generate green
consumer satisfaction models in the face of greenwashing practice.
Also, the use of other methods of fuzzy inference as a way to
aggregate the technology for the benefit of this type of study and
evaluation is foreseen for future studies. It is emphasized that the
choice of this type of inference is due to the innovation in the area
and the same efficiency of the conventional methods.
The choice of theme is justified by its relevance in the current
scenario, where consumers are increasingly interested in environ-
mentally responsible companies. And with the growing use of “eco-
advertising” by organizations, which, however, disclose environ-
mental information that does not fit the reality of the company,
thus characterizing as greenwashing.
This research also becomes relevant in contributing to the
recent literature on greenwashing, since a gap has been found on
greenwashing in retail products. It is hoped that the research can
contribute to work in Marketing and Environmental Marketing,
especially in the issue of business ethics and consumer behavior,
3
using also an innovative methodology in the area. Well, the results
show that this proposal can effectively manage the customer ser-
vice, allowing managers to identify objectives and formulate
competitive strategies to improve customer satisfaction. Avoiding,
thus, the use of false information in green products and, with it, the
practice of greenwashing.
The article is organized as follows: Section 2 identifies the
contribution of the study and presents the literature related to the
object of study that serves as a theoretical basis for the study, which
includes the definition of constructs, an introduction to the concept
of fuzzy logic and inference are addressed. Section 3 presents the
methodological procedures used. In Section 4 we present the pro-
posed theoretical mathematical model and the development of a
model focused on consumer perspectives with the application of
fuzzy logic. The last section contains the conclusions and future
challenges of the study.
2. Literature review
2.1. Green marketing
With the growing concern of the population about environ-
mental and social issues, companies have taken advantage of the
green trend towards environmentally and socially responsible
products and services (Karna et al., 2001; Dangelico and Vocalelli,
2017). Consumers are encouraged to use environmentally friendly
products when they have the knowledge and information that
products have a high level of environmental impact (Suki, 2017).
Six out of ten companies will invest in sustainable initiatives
over the next five years (Moravcikova et al., 2017). Regardless of
size, companies recognize the benefits of becoming green (Lu et al.,
2013). Thus, companies have the potential to gain competitive
advantage because once incorporating green principles into busi-
ness is already mentioned in the process of globalization of the
economy (Kirilova and Bancheva, 2017).
Green marketing emerges as a tool for sustainable development
and multi-stakeholder satisfaction (Karna et al., 2001). Thus, green
marketing has come to incorporate ethical and environmental
values into organizations through the generation and dissemina-
tion of new products and services, and the search for them will
depend on the environmentally correct involvement of the
consuming public (Wu and Chen, 2014).
There is no universal definition of green marketing (also called
environmental marketing, eco-marketing, social marketing, organic
marketing, and sustainability marketing) and its dimensions, but a
common element in the definitions is the explicit inclusion of
environmental awareness in marketing management (Zhu and
Sarkis, 2016). Green marketing is a process that is responsible for
identifying, anticipating and satisfying the needs of customers and
society, profitably and sustainably (Paço et al., 2009).
The main objective of green marketing is to present to con-
sumers the importance of protecting the environment in the
context of product consumption (Moravcikova et al., 2017). With
this, green marketing produces environmental benefits through
consumer awareness (Fliegelman, 2010). However, some com-
panies incorporate ecological considerations into marketing only to
gain competitive advantage, rather than using the environment to
shape market conditions and social well-being (Polonsky, 2011).
Companies that try to adopt green marketing have faced many
challenges. According to Lane (2012), it is increasingly difficult for
any company to stand out and be noticed by consumers concerned
about the environment. According to the author, this is reflective of
the vast number of false green marketing claims. Many ecological
claims related to environmental attributes are not clear and reliable
(Chen et al., 2013). Being that an essential objective of green
4 M.P. Martínez et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 242 (2020) 116064
marketing must be to acquire and maintain loyal and trusting
consumers (Lewandowska et al., 2017). With this, the main prob-
lem with today's green marketing is the lack of consumer confi-
dence in the communication of environmental information of
companies (Ottman, 2011; Chen and Chang, 2013).
Green marketing can be one of the most effective tools to
reinforce the corporate image in response to the needs of society as
it portrays the image of a company as receptive to the needs of
society as the effectiveness of green marketing can help consumers
to have a strong confidence in the company as well as in the quality
of its products, achieving, business performance (Ko et al., 2013).
Therefore, according to Mostafa et al. (2015), the unethical behav-
iors of companies have negative implications for the corporate
image of organizations. Corporate image is an important factor in
achieving competitive advantage. Therefore, green marketing has
corporate image implications.
In this sense, in addition to making commitments to implement
environmental concepts both in production and in operations,
companies will have to add in their products and brands a clear and
faithful promise that they are following these principles, since they
must deal with the possible consumer distrust regarding the
product that may be just being “made” for the market, thus sug-
gesting the practice of greenwashing (Chen and Chai, 2010).
2.2. Greenwashing and green consumption
Growing protection and attention to the environment has
influenced consumers, making them choose environmentally
friendly products (Yadav and Pathak, 2017). Some consumers are
changing their behavior to reduce the impact of their consumption
practices on the environment, this shift towards more environ-
mentally benign consumption is sometimes referred to as green
consumption and appears to have accelerated mainly in many
developed countries (Perera et al., 2016). Green consumers are
those who, when purchasing a product, give importance to quality
and price, and also to products and brands that adopt conservation
practices and environmental concern (Ciribele and Caneschi, 2011).
As a result, companies began to differentiate and value green
consumers, seeking to join ethics, in a more rational and fairway, to
the profits that would increase with this differential concerning the
competition that did not adopt this method (Sousa et al., 2016).
From an environmental perspective, green consumption could
help achieve environmental sustainability and, for this reason, the
main agenda of green marketing was to maximize sales and con-
sumption of green products (Bonini and Oppenheim, 2008). Be-
sides, creating a shared sense of responsibility for the environment
could encourage consumers to buy organic products in the short
term and adopt greener lifestyles in the long term (Chen and Peng,
2012).
With the increase in green consumption, many companies
began to associate the image of their products with environmental
practices; however, part of these actions was characterized as
greenwashing (Furlow, 2010). The term greenwashing emerged in
the 1980s and gained wide recognition to describe the practice of
making abusive or exaggerated sustainability claims to gain market
share (Dahl, 2010). The emergence of the term reverts to increasing
mistrust and suspicion that at least some corporations or com-
panies creatively manage their reputation with the public, the
financial community, and regulators to hide the placing of blame,
obscuring the nature of the problem or claim (Laufer, 2003).
Greenwashing derives from the phrase environmental white-
wash, a negative term that implies corporate deception (Karliner,
1997). Thus, greenwashing, also known as eco-whitening, white-
wash, eco-washing, eco-bleaching, green sheen or green image
washing, is a form of advertising in which green marketing is done
deceptively to promote the perception that the products, objectives
or policies of an organization are respectful of the environment to
increase its benefits (Kahle and Gurel-Atay, 2015; Mayrand and
Trottier, 2011; Vidal and Badie, 2010; Beder and Beder, 2002;
Karna et al., 2001; Bruno, 1997), understand greenwashing as a
form of disinformation of organizations seeking to repair public
reputations and shape their public image.
Thus, greenwashing is an act of misleading consumers about a
company's environmental practices or the environmental benefits
of a product or service (Lyon and Montgomery, 2015), becoming a
“persuasion game”, where selectively discloses positive informa-
tion on the environmental or social performance of a company
without full disclosure of negative information about these di-
mensions to create an excessively positive corporate image (Lyon
and Maxwell, 2011). Jong et al. (2018), describe greenwashing
through intrinsic (distance of truth) and communicative charac-
teristics (technique used to deceive or confuse the consumer).
Research on greenwashing increased in the late 2000s after a
significant increase in green advertising between 2006 and 2009
(TerraChoice, 2009), and consequently increased reporting and
regulatory debates on such practices (Parguel et al., 2011). Thus, the
literature on greenwashing has expanded considerably (Seele and
Gatti, 2017). Most studies examine the phenomenon of green-
washing in the context of Social and Corporate Responsibility (CSR)
(Bazillier and Vauday, 2009; Parguel et al., 2015). However,
empirical studies analyzing the effects of greenwashing are still
limited, and a distinction can be drawn between macro-level
studies that focus on the relationship between greenwashing
practices of organizations and their overall (financial) performance
and micro-level studies that focus on the effects of consumer
messages (Jong et al., 2018).
After conducting a Systemic Bibliographic Review to find studies
to characterize greenwashing practices in retail products, six arti-
cles were published between 2007 and 2017 that address this
theme. Thus, it can be observed that greenwashing is a recent topic
in the literature, and studies on these retail practices are still few.
Most of the researchers found are in Europe: two in Sweden with
the studies of Guyader et al. (2017) and Wagner (2015), one in
Germany with the study of Hernik (2014), one in the UK with the
study of Sirieix et al. (2013), one in Brazil with the study of Aligleri
and Araújo (2016), and one in the Pacific Northwest with the study
of Cliath (2007). All studies are characterized as micro, since they
focus on the effects of messages.
Two decades after the first discussions about greenwashing, the
concern of responsible authorities with the proper use of contin-
uous green marketing is in evidence. Several countries such as
France, USA, Canada, Norway, England, Australia, and Norway have
recently reviewed their legislation on green marketing practices
(Abdala et al., 2010).
Greenwashing can be found in a variety of ways, from com-
mercials and labeling products to public relations, which multiplies
their occasions of use and hinders their precise conceptualization
(Lyon and Maxwell, 2011). Greenwashing can be expressed in
concern for the environment in costly advertising campaigns and
even in the participation of transnational corporations in confer-
ences and environmental events (Karliner, 1997).
Conventional supermarkets have noticed the growing popu-
larity of organic products, and have added organic food to their
shelves. Increased marketing of organic products through con-
ventional supermarkets and large retail outlets in addition to the
traditional venues of specialty stores, they have facilitated to more
consumers the accessibility to the organic produce (Dettmann and
Dimitri, 2009). Availability also is one of the chief factors which
encourage the purchase of organic food (Davies et al., 1995).
One study showed that of 1018 products sold in retailers in the
 M.P. Martínez et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 242 (2020) 116064
USA and Canada that made environmental claims, all but one of the
products made claims that were manifestly false or risked
misleading consumers (TerraChoice, 2007). Another survey con-
ducted in four developed countries (USA, UK, Canada, and
Australia) to identify the veracity of the green statements on green
labels showed that green products have increased over 73% since
2009, but more than 98% of the products surveyed encountered a
problem related to the veracity of the statements (TerraChoice,
2009). Another research carried out with consumers from 60
countries showed that the information present on the packaging
partially influences 52% of consumers during the purchase decision
(Nielsen, 2014).
Following Pagotto (2013), the practice of greenwashing as an
element of a given discourse induces its interlocutors to error,
creating a rational conflict and compromising the autonomy and
coherence of choice. According to the author, greenwashing dis-
connects from the consumer's perspective all the social, economic
and environmental processes and impacts of the production of
goods, and makes the consumer believe that the impacts of this
consumption would be minor or would not even exist.
According to Guyader et al. (2017), retailers could influence the
behavior of consumers' green purchases through in-store market-
ing practices. These authors also argue that the price difference
between classic and eco-friendly products represents a potential
revenue for retailers because consumers who say they are green are
willing to pay more for green products.
Many companies have changed their attitudes towards the
environment and its consumers to align growth strategies, the
environmental crisis and sustainability (Pinto and Rocco, 2012).
This approach has led to the emergence of green marketing to
demonstrate the practice carried out by companies through actions
that take into account the concerns of consumers regarding the
preservation and conservation of the environment (Coddington,
1993; Tavares and Ferreira, 2012; Matthes and Wonneberger, 2014).
A real change in attitudes consumers toward the environment is
often costly and cumbersome in their implementation, for this
reason, companies choose a more accessible way to take advantage
of this new sustainable consumption scenario by using green-
washing (Chen and Chang, 2013).
The existence of green makeup practices increases the possi-
bility of consumer error at the time of the decision, and when
greenwashing is perceived, it becomes negative for a company
because the consumer is no longer relying on brand and product
(Chen and Chang, 2013). Thus, greenwashing is positively related to
consumer confusion over the arguments used by the brands and
the perceived risks of buying green products. Therefore, green-
washing can confuse the consumer, and this can adversely affect
their buying attitude, satisfaction, and loyalty, their perception of
risk and benefits over a green product.
2.3. Consumer behavior
In green behavior research, environmental concern is empha-
sized as one of the main cognitive measures (knowledge and be-
liefs) to predict a person's green behavior (Jaiswal and Kant, 2018).
Nowadays, most consumers have changed their buying
behavior, so they started to buy and reward companies that have
environmental programs (Ottman, 2011). Consumer behavior for
green purchasing is usually assessed by the willingness or will-
ingness of consumers to buy green products. This conscious or
intentional behavior is transformed into the buying decision for
such products (Joshi and Rahman, 2015).
Consumer behavior is defined as “activities directly involved in
obtaining, consuming and disposing of products, including the
decision processes that precede and follow these actions” (Engel
5
et al., 1995, p. 4).
Consumer behavior is influenced by a group or an organization,
as the impact of consumer behavior on society is important and
may have implications for society, the economy and the environ-
ment (Budica et al., 2010).
In this context, the present study seeks to discuss what happens
mainly at the purchase stage. Stage in which the practice of
greenwashing can positively or negatively influence the consumer
behavior, satisfaction, loyalty, risk, and benefits perceives of green
consumers in their decision to buy an organic product.
2.3.1. Perceived risk
Bauer (1960) is the first researcher to introduce the concept of
perceived risk in the study of consumer behavior. According to this
author, consumer behavior implies a risk, since any activity that he
or she carries out can have both social and economic consequences
that cannot be predicted with certainty and some of which can have
unintended consequences. The influence of the perceived risk on
consumer purchasing decisions was revealed, acting as a purchase
inhibitor (Bettman, 1972; Peter and Ryan, 1976).
The risk is consumer perception regarding the uncertainty and
unfavorable consequences of purchasing a product or service
(Dowling and Staelin, 1994). The perceived risk consists of psy-
chological, physical, financial, social, and performance factors
(Jacoby and Kaplan, 1972). The Perceived risk would affect the
customer's buying decision (Aaker, 2012). The perceived risk can
affect the purchase decision by bringing negative consequences
(Solomon, 2016). When consumers perceive risk in the purchase,
they can adopt four different strategies: Reduce the perceived risk
by reducing the probability of purchase; Change from one type of
perceived loss to another whose tolerance is greater; Postpone the
purchase; Make the buy and absorb the unresolved risk (Roselius,
1971). These risks include functional risk, financial risk, psycho-
logical risk, physical risk, social risk and time risk that, in many
cases, are not measured at the moment of purchase (Hsu and Lin,
2006; Plec and Pettenger, 2012).
Therefore, the perceived risk can have a negative relationship
with the variable perceived benefit and satisfaction, i.e., that there
is a negative influence on the consumer when he perceives the
greenwashing and a low level of satisfaction since when buying a
product, the consumer will assume the condition of confidence in
the product. In this relationship, it is expected that given the
greenwashing practice, the consumer will reject the product and
show a low level of satisfaction.
2.3.2. Perceived benefit
The overall benefit demanded by consumers lies not only in the
satisfaction with the operation of a product but also in additional
beneficial effects (Drennan et al., 2006). Babin et al. (1994) consider
four conceptualizations of the value perceived by the customer:
value is the price; what I gain for what I give; a trade-off between
perceived quality and price; and all the subjective factors and ob-
jectives that make up the complete buying experience. Chandon
et al. (2000) divide perceived benefits into six constructs: the
monetary economy, quality, convenience, value, expression, and
entertainment.
Therefore, if the consumer perceives benefits in the green
product, there will be a positive attitude in the purchase intention,
a higher level of satisfaction and a negative relationship with the
greenwashing by not adding benefits. For this reason, the percep-
tion of greenwashing will have a negative relationship, i.e., corre-
lation or association with the perceived benefit of consumption of
green products in retail and a positive relationship with consumer
satisfaction.
6 M.P. Martínez et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 242 (2020) 116064
2.3.3. Loyalty and satisfaction
Loyalty is the commitment to systematically repurchase a
product or service, despite the influence of situations and mar-
keting efforts that indicate behavioral changes (Oliver, 1999).
Products that create security and consumer confidence and that
foster greater satisfaction, produce a loyalty relationship between
consumers and the product or service (Chang et al., 2014).
There is research that delves into the nature of the satisfaction
concept, its antecedents, consequences, and paradigms associated
with its definition (Anderson and Sullivan, 1993; Fournier and Mick,
1999; Seiders et al., 2005).
For García and Caro (2010) the consumer satisfaction is an
attitude; a subjective evaluation of consumer experiences. Thus,
satisfaction is understood as an evaluative judgment that the
consumer makes globally about his experience of consumption at a
time after consumption (Fornell, 1992), based partly on cognitive
aspects, and partly on the affective response to product stimuli or
service (Oliver, 1997). In other words, it is the overall level of
contentment with a service/product experience. Bitner and
Zeithaml (2003) opined that satisfaction is the customers’ evalua-
tion of a product or service regarding whether that product or
service has met their needs and expectations.
The satisfaction of personal needs remains fundamental for
consumer behavior and the preservation of the environment has
also become the primary concern (Moura et al., 2012; Verbeke et al.,
2007). The importance of its study is based on two reasons: (1) its
measurement serves as an approximation to gauge whether orga-
nizations are acting following their objectives; (2) its knowledge
allows to make predictions behavior of the consumer (García and
Caro, 2010).
Customer satisfaction is the heart of marketing (Rahim et al.,
2012) since satisfaction is the factor that most affects consumers’
awareness of the corporate image of a company (Ko et al., 2013). A
positive corporate image can increase the consumer's intention to
buy products that a company offers. And it can also give greater
satisfaction and loyal customers (Kim et al., 2012). The develop-
ment of the green image in companies helps to improve the
corporate image of a company (Yadav et al., 2016).
Consequently, if the consumer perceives the greenwashing in
the green product, there will be a negative attitude in the purchase
intention and a lower level of satisfaction. Therefore, the perception
of greenwashing will have a negative relationship with the level of
satisfaction and loyalty. Given this, it is expected that the percep-
tion of greenwashing has a negative relationship with satisfaction
and loyalty for the consumption of green products in retail.
2.4. Fuzzy inference systems
The issue of greenwashing is still little explored. However, the
study of consumer satisfaction and behavior is a mature research
area. In recent years, interesting contributions have been made
through the incorporation of less conventional methodologies for
their analysis, which gives a new focus to satisfaction studies. In
this way, methods associated with the sciences of complexity and
artificial intelligence are beginning to be used (García and Caro,
2010). Some examples are the studies of García and Caro (2009),
Grønholdt and Martensen (2005) or Lozano and Fuentes (2003). In
the first example, systems dynamics are applied to investigate the
relationships between consumer attitudes and their effective
behavior. In the second, the authors bet on the use of artificial
neural networks instead of the traditional statistical analyzes to
study the relationships between consumer satisfaction, their an-
tecedents and consequences. The last example applies fuzzy logic to
study of consumer attitudes as an approach to the valuation of
intangibles.
Fuzzy logic provides the development of genetic algorithms,
which are capable of mimicking part of human reasoning. These
methods are synthesized by creating a computer program based on
rules created from this logic; it is the so-called system based on
fuzzy rules (Gabriel Filho et al., 2011; Amendola et al., 2004).
The best-known application of fuzzy logic is the Fuzzy Inference
System (FIS), a computational tool that allows the representation of
inaccurate, ambiguous or imprecise knowledge and data, imitating
the process followed by human thought (Jang et al., 1997). The best
known FISs are Mamdani, Relational or Pedryckz, and Takagi-
Sugeno inference systems (Takagi and Sugeno, 1985).
The controller structure represents the transformation of the
real world domain, which uses real numbers in the fuzzy domain,
which uses fuzzy numbers. In this transformation, a fuzzy in-
ferences set is used for decision-making; and finally, an inverse
transformation of the fuzzy domain occurs in the real world
domain, so that the coupling between the fuzzy algorithm output
and the performance variables (Shaw and Simo ~es, 1999). Fig. 1
shows a diagram of fuzzy blocks with FIS elements.
These FIS elements are:

Input Vector: X ¼ [x1, x2 … xn] T are crisp values, which are
transformed into fuzzy sets in the fuzzification block.

Output Vector: Y ¼ [y1, y2 … ym] T comes out from the defuzzi-
fication block, which transforms a fuzzy output set back to a
crisp value.

Fuzzification: a process of transforming crisp values into grades
of membership for linguistic terms, far, near, small of fuzzy sets.

Fuzzy Rule base: a collection of propositions containing lin-
guistic variables; the rules are expressed in the form:

If (x is A) AND (y is B) … THEN (z is C) where x, y, and z represent
variables (e.g., distance, size) and A, B and Z are linguistic vari-
ables (e.g., far, near, small).

Membership function: provides a measure of the degree of
similarity of elements in the universe of discourse U to the fuzzy
set.

Fuzzy Inference: combines the facts obtained from the Fuzzifi-
cation with the rule base and conducts the Fuzzy reasoning
process.

Defuzzification: Translate results back to the real world values.
Fuzzification is a process by which input values of the system are
transformed into fuzzy sets, with their respective ranges of values
where they are defined. It is a mapping of the domain of real
numbers for the fuzzy domain.
The fuzzy set theory is efficient in modeling uncertainty in
parameter definition and has got results in the most varied appli-
cations (Pedrycz and Gomide, 1998; Bojadziev and Bojadziev, 1997).
This theory, which considers the subjectivity and experience of
professionals, is capable of capturing imprecise information
described in natural language and convert them an into the nu-
merical format, seeking for approximate reasoning with inaccurate
propositions through Fuzzy Sets (Rentería, 2006).
In the Zadeh fuzzy sets theory, the non-membership degree by
defect is the complement of the membership degree. Thus, in this
approach, the non-membership degree is independent of the
membership degree, and this difference between that non-
membership and membership degree complement reveals the
hesitation present when the membership degree is attributed
(Costa, 2012). This new extension nowadays is called the intui-
tionist fuzzy sets theory of Atanassov (1999).
So, U is any given set called universe set. A fuzzy subset F of U is
characterized by a function m:U/[0.1], called membership function
of fuzzy set F. Value m(x)2[0.1] indicates the degree in which
element x of U is within fuzzy set F, with m(x) ¼ 0 and with m(x) ¼ 1
 M.P. Martínez et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 242 (2020) 116064
Fig. 1. Fuzzy System Elements. Source: Source: Prepared by the authors.
respectively indicating the non-membership and complete mem-
bership of x to fuzzy set F (Zadeh, 1965).
A linguistic variable can be associated with a set of linguistic
terms by a function T(u), where such terms can be fuzzy numbers
over a U universe set. The decision-making logic, incorporated in
the inference structure based on rules, uses fuzzy implications to
simulate human decision-making. This generates consequential
actions inferred from a set of preceding entry conditions.
The inference method used in this study is that of Mamdani,
who adds the rules through a logical operator OR, modeled by a
mathematical operator \/and in each rule, logical operators AND
and THEN are modeled by the minimal operator ∧ (Pedrycz and
Gomide, 1998). To illustrate the method, two generic rules are
used, each with two inputs and one output (Fig. 2), as follows:
R1: IF x is A1 AND y is B1 THEN z is C1
R2: IF x is A2 AND y is B2 THEN z is C2
where Ai, Bi, Ci are fuzzy sets.
The basis of fuzzy rules in general is obtained from the knowl-
edge of experts through interviews, questionnaires or panel tech-
niques, however, in many cases these experts are not available but
there is a database of input variables departure. This is a Fuzzy
Delphi Method. In situations like this, it is possible to generate
fuzzy rules that define an adequate correspondence between the
input and output variables (Hurtado and Go
mez, 2008)
The application of models based on Fuzzy Logic allows us to
effectively address the creation of support systems for decision
making since it provides the ability to extract data practically, and
through the analytical capabilities and experience of evaluators,
discover relationships significant among them. Diffuse Logic
models are highly flexible, more tolerant of data imprecision and
can work with non-linear functions of varying complexity, and are
not bound by statistical assumptions about the characteristics of
the data and their probability distributions and You can easily
modify them depending on the required solution of the problem
(Hurtado and Go
mez, 2008)
When you have inaccurate and insufficient information, using
statistical tools is not enough to obtain significant results. Fuzzy
Logic arises precisely to deal with this type of problems and to
achieve an optimal solution. In this way, a combination of a Fuzzy
Logic system and the experience or knowledge that decision
makers have is an excellent way to obtain good results (Kosko,
1994).
2.5. Mamdani's fuzzy inference method
The first step in Mamdani's Inference Method (1974) consists of
using the AND operator. The fuzzy input numbers, i.e., membership
sets Ai and Bi are combined by using the minimum operator that
7
corresponds to the AND connector according to the fuzzy inter-
section rules. This operation is called aggregation; the input values
for x and y are chosen on the horizontal axis and taking into account
rule R2, vertical lines are determined by intercepting the input
values and consequently, the functions mA1 (x) and mB1 (y). Then
horizontal lines are determined by passing the first one through
mA1 (x) and mB1 (y).
Using the AND connector, it is necessary to obtain the lowest
value and project a horizontal line over the consecutive fuzzy set C1,
and this is accomplished in wC1 ¼ min{mA1(x), mB1(y)}. This gener-
ates a truncation in set C1 and thus, it is possible to create a new C1
set, whose membership function is given by mC1(z) ¼ min {wC1,
mC1(z)}, for all of z. For rule R2, similar considerations are made. The
resulting fuzzy set of rule R2 is C2 (Mamdani and Assilian, 1975).
The second step of Mamdani's Inference Method also consists in
using the AND operator. In the operation, called composition, the
fuzzy sets corresponding to C1 and C2 are combined using the
maximum operator, which corresponds to the OR connector ac-
cording to the fuzzy union rules. The maximum operator creates
the boundary common to fuzzy sets C. For a system with n rules, the
procedure is analogous, with the contribution of each rule indi-
vidually to obtain the output (Mamdani, 1976).
In the defuzzification, the output linguistic variable value
inferred by the fuzzy rules is translated into real value to obtain a
single real number that better represents the inferred fuzzy values
of the output linguistic variable. To select the appropriate method,
you can use an approach based on the centroid method or the
maximum values that occur in the resulting membership function
(Mamdani, 1974).
The Gravity Center or Centroid Method is the most commonly
used defuzzification technique (Mamdani, 1974). It can be under-
stood as a weighted average, where mA(x) works as the weight of x
value. If x is a discrete value, then the defuzzification of fuzzy set A
is provided by the following equation:
P
m ðxÞx
z ¼ Px A (1)
x mA ðxÞ
Similarly, if x is continuous, then
~ es (1999).
Fig. 2. Fuzzy sets types. Source: Shaw and Simo
8 M.P. Martínez et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 242 (2020) 116064
ð 10 fuzzy sets called Set 1 (C1), Set 2 (C2), Set 3 (C3), Set 4 (C4), Set 5
mA ðxÞxdx
z ¼ ðX
mA ðxÞdx
x Step 2: Definition of membership functions of the input and
3. Material and methods
To achieve the proposed objectives, a methodology was fol-
lowed based on the stages detailed below:
Stage 1: Selection of indicators and implementation of quanti-
tative survey
Following the selection of the indicators through consultation
with experts for developing de fuzzy model proposed, a quantita-
tive survey was carried out along with a sample of 506 Brazilian
consumers, who buy groceries weekly or biweekly. With this
sample, it was possible to evaluate a model that analyses the as-
pects implied by greenwashing and the aspects presented by con-
sumer attitudes and beliefs.
Figs. 3 and 4 show the scale used in this study for the different
constructs. During the application of this questionnaire, a Likert
scale was used with five points of agreement/disagreement, where
1 means total disagreement and 5 total agreements. People who
shopped at supermarkets weekly or biweekly were taken into ac-
count for the study.
The data collected through the survey were submitted to
Anderson-Darling normality tests and Bartlett's variance homoge-
neity. Then, the analysis of variance (test F) with 1 and 5% of
probability (Banzatto and Kronka, 2006), was applied using the
SigmaStat and Minitab software. Attending to the objectives of this
study to know the behavior of the consumer of green products, it is
not expected to obtain the empirical relation between the variables
made by the regression analysis.
Stage 2: Development of fuzzy model
The fuzzy mathematical model proposed in this study sought to
explain the behavioral characteristics of the input variables
Greenwashing, Perceived Benefits; Perceived Risk and Loyalty, and
output variable Satisfaction. For the creation of the rule base of the
fuzzy model, we calculated the mean values of the questions of
each variable, these values having decimal places, and such mean
values were approximated to the corresponding non-zero integer
value, thus keeping the integer values from 1 to 5 of the afore-
mentioned Likert scale now for the mean values. Thus, the pro-
posed fuzzy inference system or model was developed through the
following steps (Jang, 1997; Kasabov, 1998; Kosko, 1994; Wang,
1992):
Step 1: Definition of input and output variables and parame-
terization their values
After identifying the type of problem and the type of fuzzy
system that best fits the data, it was defined input and output
variables, their fuzzy values and their membership functions
(parameterization of input and output variables). Thus, input var-
iables of the system based on fuzzy logic were: Greenwashing (GW),
Perceived Risk (PR), Loyalty (Loy) and Perceived Benefits (PB). For this
input variable, four fuzzy sets were linguistically defined and were
called Very Low (VL), Low (L), Medium (M), and High (H) (Table 1 and
Fig. 7). For the output variable called Satisfaction (Sat), we defined
(C), Set 6 (C6), Set 7 (C7), Set 8 (C8), Set 9 (C9) and Set 10 (C10)
(2) (Table 2 and Fig. 8).
output variables
Considering the model as described above, the membership
functions of the input and output variables were: f : R4 /R1 , with
y ¼ f ðx), where R is the real numbers set; where x ¼ (x1 ; x2 ; x3 ; x4 Þ
is defined by x1 ¼ GW, x2 ¼ PR, x3 ¼ Loyalty; x4 ¼ PB and y ¼
Satisfaction.
There are different types of relevance functions (Rajasekaran
and Vijayalakshmi, 2003), but for this study have opted for a
triangular discrete function, given the facilities that this type of
function presents to perform operations. For the current model,
fuzzy sets of all input variables (GW, PR, Loy, and PB) were defined
with a triangular-type membership function given by:
8
>
> 0; if x  a
>
>
>
> xa
>
> ; if a < x  b
<
ba
mA ðxÞ ¼ (3)
>
> xc
>
> ; if b < x  c
>
> b c
>
>
: 0; if x > c
for a < b < c. Since a fuzzy number A is triangular if its membership
function is given by Eq. (3). The chart of a triangular fuzzy number
has the shape of a triangle based on the interval [a,c] and, as the
only vertex outside the base, the point (b,1). Thus, real numbers a, b
and c define the triangular fuzzy number A (Fig. 5)
Step 3: Definition of the knowledge base or fuzzy rules
In order to obtain the basis of fuzzy system rules, we considered
119 combinations between fuzzy sets of the input variables and
rules considered after survey results. Thus, combinations between
sets were created according to the methodology developed by
Cremasco et al. (2010) and applied, Gabriel Filho et al. (2011) and
Pereira et al. (2008). Table 1 displays the points considered of each
variable and fuzzy sets combinations described. Besides, Table 1
shows the various fuzzy sets, the function membership type and
input variables delimiters. Presenting thus, different combinations
of input variables with points of 1 membership degree associated
with the fuzzy sets to generate the Rules Base.
To create the mathematical model, it was necessary to deter-
mine the relations between input and output variables, which are
equivalent to an intelligent system.
To calculate the values of the points with 1 degree of associated
membership, the input variables were classified according to the
Mamdani's Method, which allows the use of rule types such as, “IF
… THEN …” for the mapping of the fuzzy input sets in the output
sets according to fuzzy logic (Henao and Zapata, 2004):

If the input variable  2, then the fuzzy variable is Very Low

If the input variable ¼ 3, then the fuzzy variable is Low

If the input variable ¼ 4 then the fuzzy variable is Medium

If the input variable  5 then the fuzzy variable is High
Thus, the higher the number obtained in the controller, the
higher the consumer satisfaction degree of green products.
Table 2 shows the different fuzzy sets, the type of function that is
triangular and the membership functions’ delimiters of Satisfaction
output variable. The fuzzy sets membership functions of output
 M.P. Martínez et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 242 (2020) 116064
Fig. 3. Scale used for the Greenwashing and Perceived Benefits constructs.
Source: Adapted from Braga Junior et al. (2016); Wu and Chen (2014); Correa et al. (2017).
Fig. 4. Scale used for the Perceived Risk, Satisfaction and Loyalty constructs.
Source: Adapted from Braga Junior et al. (2016); Wu and Chen (2014); Correa et al. (2017).
variable are triangular because according to the data and object of
study, they are considered as the most convenient for this model.
Table 3 shows that the fuzzy sets of the output variable, present
a score from 1 to 10 on the established Likert scale, where 1 is
considered the lowest level, the most negative value giving the
9
worst result, being classified as Totally Dissatisfied, and 10 would be
the most satisfactory classification, with the best result classified as
Totally Satisfied. The average value would be represented by fuzzy
set “C5” with a moderate level of satisfaction. Thus, fuzzy sets
represent the following linguistic terms and values, where 1 is a
10 M.P. Martínez et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 242 (2020) 116064

Table 2
Definition of membership functions of the output variable.

SATISFACTION

Fuzzy Set Type Delimiters

C1 Triangular [0 1 2]
C2 Triangular [1 2 3]
C3 Triangular [2 3 4]
C4 Triangular [3 4 5]
C5 Triangular [4 5 6]
C6 Triangular [5 6 7]
C7 Triangular [6 7 8]
Fig. 5. Triangular fuzzy number. C8 Triangular [7 8 9]
C9 Triangular [8 9 10]
C10 Triangular [9 10 11]

poor result and 10 is optimal: Source: Prepared by the authors.

The alphanumeric values given to the fuzzy sets of the output
variable are chosen to consider the ones that are most suitable for
Table 3
analysis of the fuzzy output variable and the proposed model
Alphanumeric values of the fuzzy sets of the output variable.
(Table 3).
FUZZY SATISFACTION

Step 4: Fuzzy Inference System Fuzzy set Numerical Value Language Value

C1 1 Totally Dissatisfied
In order to create the system based on fuzzy rules or FIS, it was C2 2 Extremely Dissatisfied
necessary to define an input processor (fuzzifier), a set of linguistic C3 3 Very Dissatisfied
rules, a fuzzy inference method (Mamdani) and an output proces- C4 4 Dissatisfied
C5 5 Moderately Satisfied
sor (defuzzifier), generating a real number as output (Fig. 6).
C6 6 Satisfied
Fig. 6 shows how it was possible to define and analyze four input C7 7 Fairly Satisfied
variables (fuzzifier) through the use of Matlab, considered as the C8 8 Very Satisfied
main variables that interfere with the level of consumer satisfaction C9 9 Extremely Satisfied
C10 10 Totally Satisfied
with green products. As a system output processor (defuzzifier)
defined by the controller variable (satisfaction) with ten member- Source: Prepared by the authors.
ship functions, thus indicating the degree of consumer satisfaction
with green products. Therefore, the higher the number obtained in
the controller, the higher the level of consumer satisfaction. with the Centroid method to obtain a qualification value of the level
The inference method used to calculate the numerical value of of consumer satisfaction.
the input and output variables, according to a rule base, was that of
Mamdani (Amendola et al., 2004), and to obtain a numerical output Step 5: Obtaining outputs from the system through the infor-
it is necessary to defuzzy. For the defuzzification the Center of mation of the input variables using the FIS.
Gravity or Centroid Method was used, which is the most defuzzi-
fication technique used commonly, and it allows to obtain the point For the elaboration of the Fuzzy Inference System of evaluation
where a vertical line divides in the middle an aggregate set. With of the satisfaction of the green consumer before the presence of the
the help of the Fuzzy Logic tool of MATLAB®14n software (Math- perceived greenwashing, initially, the membership functions of the
Works, Inc. Copyright, 1994e2017), it was possible to create a input and output variables of the FIS were elaborated.
computational system based on fuzzy rules, to determine the three- The membership functions used in Matlab and defined for the
dimensional charts or surfaces and outline maps of the associated fuzzy sets of input variables and the output variable are shown in
function, which represent the system and to perform the fuzzy Table 2, Figs. 7 and 8. Fig. 7 shows that in all cases (a, b, c, d), the
system simulations. The mathematical formula that obtains this membership functions for input variables are triangular and with
point is expressed as follows: values between zero and one [0,1].

Step 6: Transfer of the fuzzy output of the system to a clear or

Pb
mðxÞx specific value through a concretion system.
Centroid ¼ Px¼a
x¼a mðxÞ
b
Fig. 8 shows that the membership functions for the output
Thus, after defining the fuzzy rules using the Mamdani method, variable are triangular with 10 membership functions with the
the values of the indicators were combined to defuzzify the results linguistic value indicated in Table 3.

Table 1
Definition of membership functions of the input variables.

Input Variables and Delimiters

FUZZY SETS TYPE OF MEMBERSHIP FUNCTION GREENWHASING PERCEIVED RISK LOYALTY PERCEIVED BENEFITS

Very Low Triangular [0 1 2 3] [0 1 2 3] [0 1 2 3] [0 1 2 3]

Low Triangular [2 3 4] [2 3 4] [2 3 4] [2 3 4]
Medium Triangular [3 4 5] [3 4 5] [3 4 5] [3 4 5]
High Triangular [4 5 6] [4 5 6] [4 5 6] [4 5 6]

Source: Prepared by the authors.

 M.P. Martínez et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 242 (2020) 116064
Fig. 6. System based on fuzzy logic to assess the degree of satisfaction and green
product consumer behavior and their perception in greenwashing presence. Source:
Prepared by the authors. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure
legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)
To build the system's rule bases, the four input variables were
correlated, which allowed obtaining results about consumer
satisfaction degree with green products. These rules were devel-
oped based on the following principles:
1) The higher the presence of greenwashing, the lower the con-
sumer satisfaction degree of green product.
2) The higher the perceived risk, the lower the satisfaction degree.
3) The higher the loyalty, the higher the satisfaction degree.
4) The higher the perceived benefit, the higher the satisfaction
degree.
Table 4 shows some of the 119 fuzzy rules used in this step from
the perspective of green product consumers.
These rules allow to determine the satisfaction degree of green
product consumers in the absence or presence of greenwashing.
Thus, to validate the proposed fuzzy system, the verification of the
absence of a significant difference was performed where the
comparison test of averages was used, and the differences were not
considered significant when p < 0.05.
Similarly, to validate the proposed fuzzy system, a statistical
analysis was performed comparing the results of the systems with
the actual data collected during the field study. In the case of
normality in the data, the paired t-test was adopted at a level of
significance of a ¼ 5%.
Step 7: Adjust the system validating the results of model
The model was validated by Pearson's correlation between the
data used, and a paired test-t was performed to confirm the data
also as shown below in the results section.
4. Results and discussion
Using Mamdani's Inference Method, it was possible to create a
general simulation of all points domain membership. Three simu-
lations were built in this manner, always defining two variables in
11
the value in which the membership degree for the Medium fuzzy
set is 1 and leaving the other variables free (degree of membership
undefined). Thus, the simulations were performed as shown in
Table 5.
Figs. 9e11 show the relationships between the indicators con-
verted by the MATLAB 14 software for charts or three-dimensional
surfaces and outline maps for decision analysis. Thus, the 3D sur-
face and the outline maps are shown as a fuzzy system solution
obtained through the Mamdani's Inference Method with each
surface description.
Thus, Fig. 9a represents Simulation 1 that shows the system
formed from the satisfaction degree with the PB and GW variables
determined as free, while the Loy and PR level, by green products
consumers, has an average membership degree. To facilitate the
results understanding, the 3D chart projection is presented through
its outline map (Fig. 9b) where it can be observed that the region C
represents a high benefit perception level, despite the green-
washing presence perceived; while region B shows a high
perceived benefits level and, albeit with low influence of green-
washing perceived, it is a good relationship to achieve high con-
sumer satisfaction degree. Region A shows a low PB level, so it does
not have the best means of reaching a high consumer satisfaction
degree with the green products consumption and consumer
perception of the greenwashing existence.
Thus, Fig. 9 shows the relationship between the greenwashing
presence and benefit perceived by consumers that increase or
reduce their satisfaction degree. The greenwashing presence
perceived influences the benefits perception about the consump-
tion of the products affected by greenwashing. As the greenwashing
presence increases, the benefits perception decreases, reducing the
consumer satisfaction degree at the loss of trust in the product and
the company, because consumers feel deceived due to the legiti-
macy lack of the product's information. However, the highest peak
in the chart corresponds to the region C in the consumer satisfac-
tion degree, obtains the highest scores and occurs approximately
between GW values equal to 4.5, and PB equal to 4. Simulation 2
(Fig. 10a), shows the system consisting of the satisfaction degree for
the PR and GW variables determined as free; while the level of Loy
and PB by green products consumers presents an average mem-
bership degree. Region A (Fig. 10b) represents consumption con-
ditions that are the most favorable for green products consumers,
since they provide a low level of Risk Perception and Greenwashing,
therefore, it is classified as the best condition; while region B pro-
vides less favorable consumption conditions than region C, with
high greenwashing influence, it is not the best relationship to
achieve a high consumer satisfaction degree. Region C, with a
medium-high level of risk perception and greenwashing perceived,
doesn't have the best conditions to reach a high satisfaction degree
for green product consumers.
Thus, Fig. 10 shows the relationship between the greenwashing
presence and the consumer risk perception that leads to the in-
crease or decrease of their satisfaction degree. The greenwashing
presence influences the risk perception about products consump-
tion that suffers from green image washing. As the greenwashing
presence increases, the risk perception increases, once again
reducing the consumer satisfaction degree with the loss of trust in
the product and the company, because, as in simulation 1, con-
sumers feel deceived due to the legitimacy lack of product infor-
mation. The highest peak in the chart corresponds to the region
where the consumer satisfaction degree scores the highest and
occurs approximately between greenwashing values equal to 5 and
perceived risk equal to 1.
Fig. 11a represents Simulation 3, which shows the system con-
sisting of the satisfaction degree for the Loy and GW variables
determined as free, while the level of PR and PB by consumers of
12 M.P. Martínez et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 242 (2020) 116064
Fig. 7. Membership functions defined for the fuzzy sets of the input variables: a) Greenwashing, b) Perceived Risk, c) Loyalty, and d) Perceived Benefits. Source: Prepared by the
authors.
Fig. 8. Membership functions defined for the fuzzy sets of the Satisfaction fuzzy output
variable. Source: Prepared by the authors.
products has an average membership degree. Region C (Fig. 11b)
represents moderately favorable consumption conditions for green
products consumers since they provide a high level of loyalty and
low greenwashing content, which is classified as a moderate con-
dition to reach an average consumer satisfaction degree. Region A
and B provide higher levels of loyalty and a lower greenwashing
influence is perceived, which provides more favorable consump-
tion conditions than the region C, providing a moderate-high
satisfaction degree, i.e., above average. The curves between region
C and D show the highest levels of loyalty, when the presence of
greenwashing shows low levels, which reinforces the idea that the
degree of customer loyalty and satisfaction are affected by green-
washing perceived.
Therefore, Fig. 11 shows the relationship between the green-
washing presence and the consumer loyalty level that leads to the
increase or decrease of their satisfaction degree. The greenwashing
presence influences the consumer loyalty level. As the green-
washing presence increases, the loyalty level decreases, reducing
the level of consumer satisfaction level with the loss of trust in the
product and the company, since consumers feel deceived due to the
legitimacy lack of the product information. The highest peak in the
chart corresponds to the region where the consumer satisfaction
degree obtains the highest scores and occurs approximately in
greenwashing values between 2.5 and 3, and loyalty equal to 4.5.
Figs. 9e11 show that the satisfaction degree is substantially
related to the perception of risk and benefits degree, and to the
consumer loyalty degree for the greenwashing perception in the
 M.P. Martínez et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 242 (2020) 116064 13

Table 4
Fuzzy rules.

Input Variables Output Variable

Greenwashing Perceived Risk Loyalty Perceived Benefits Satisfaction

M M M M C8
M H L H C9
L L L L C6
H H H H C1
H L L H C6
H H M M C9
H M M M C8
L L L H C5
L L H L C5
L L L L C6
L L H H C6
L L H L C4
L L H H C4
L M M H C8
H H M H C10

Legend: L ¼ Low, M ¼ Medium, H ¼ High, C¼Set. Source: Prepared by the authors.

Table 5 variables.
General simulations for points domain membership. Fig. 12 illustrates a possible scenario using the Mamdani's
Input Variables Inference Method where the results for the GW, PR, Loy, PB input
variables would be: GW ¼ 1.91, PR ¼ 3.59, Loyalty ¼ 3.82, PB ¼ 3.41,
Simulations Greenwashing Perceived Risk Loyalty Perceived Benefits
resulting in Satisfaction ¼ 7.49, which represents 1 membership
1 Free Medium Medium Free
degree within the average level that would be 5. Thus, Fig. 12
2 Free Free Medium Medium
3 Free Medium Free Medium simulates a possible combination of fuzzification variables and
the relation of input variables and output variable. The inclusion of
Source: Prepared by the authors.
these indicators in the model revealed the result about the con-
sumer satisfaction degree regarding the green products consump-
green products. This can be seen especially in Figs. 9 and 10 where tion and the presence or absence of greenwashing, indicating that it
the PR and PB factors are decisive because, for the greenwashing is within the consumer satisfaction degree. As shows Fig. 12, when
values, the curves are decreasing. In contrast, Fig. 11 shows that the the greenwashing presence or perception is low or very low, the
curves are increasing as the greenwashing presence decreases in satisfaction degree is high. Although, in the greenwashing pres-
favor of the loyalty degree. ence, the satisfaction degree is lower, which represents a scenario
It should be noted that the studies of these variables comple- consistent with the objectives established in this study.
ment each other and therefore, all results should be taken into When the input variables (GW and PR) are low, they influence
account. Consumers will be satisfied and will be loyal because there the output variable (Satisfaction) giving a high value, so an inverse
is less presence of greenwashing or less greenwashing perception proportional relation is established. However, it was observed that
and consequently, it decreases their risk perception and increases if the Loyalty and PB input variables are high, they influence the
their benefit sensation. This will occur when there is a higher level satisfaction degree to make it high. This revealed the importance of
of membership in the Low and/or Medium fuzzy sets for the other customer satisfaction for the loyalty regarding the green products

Fig. 9. a) The 3D fuzzy surfaces of the relationship between the Perceived Benefits and Greewahisng input variables as free and the Satisfaction output variable. b) Outline map of the
Satisfaction fuzzy surface in relationship to the input variable. Source: Prepared by the authors.
14 M.P. Martínez et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 242 (2020) 116064

Fig. 10. a) The 3D fuzzy surfaces of the relationship between the Perceived Risk (PR) and Greenwashing (GW) input variables as free and the Satisfaction output variable. b) Outline
map of the Satisfaction fuzzy surface in relationship to the input variables. Source: Prepared by the authors.

Fig. 11. a) The 3D fuzzy surfaces of the relationship between the Loyalty and Greenwashing input variables as free and the Satisfaction output variable. b) Outline map of the
Satisfaction fuzzy surface in relationship to the input variables. Source: Prepared by the authors.

consumption and the presence or absence of greenwashing in such
products. The ideal is that companies try to keep consumer satis-
faction degree high to increase their loyalty by reducing the use of
greenwashing. For this reason, customer satisfaction is an indicator
that must be kept at a very high level and must be continuously
monitored to identify problems and make informed and suitable
decisions, as well as predict possible consumer behavior, predict
uncertainties and take preventive action to improve services.
Fig. 13 show the highlighted points where the straight lines
meet in an intermediate and high (satisfactory) situation, which is
verified in the calculation to determine the satisfaction degree
given by value 7.49. The analysis of the membership functions of
this output variable revealed that this point has a higher mem-
bership degree in fuzzy set C7 (Fairly Satisfied) with 0.75 (75%)
proximally and C8 (Very Satisfied with 0.38 (38%) proximally, this is
a high satisfaction degree according to Fig. 12.
Therefore, Fig. 13 illustrates the degree of membership of the
output variable (Satisfaction) for the input variables [GW ¼ 1.91,
PR ¼ 3.59, Loy ¼ 3.82, PB ¼ 3.41]. Here it is observed that for a value
of 7.49 the degree of membership to the linguistic tag C7 (Fairly
Satisfied) is 75% (0.75), while for the linguistic tag C8 (Very Satisfied)
it is 38% (0.38); therefore, for this input vector, the Satisfaction
degree is Fairly High and Very High. Those means that the input
variables have values with a membership degree to the linguistic
group “Very Low” in the case of Greenwashing and “Low” in the
other input variables. Greenwashing ¼ 1.91 (the highest member-
ship degree is 1), Perceived Risk ¼ 3.59 (highest membership de-
gree is 0.70), Loyalty ¼ 3.82 (the highest membership degree is
0.75), Perceived Benefit ¼ 3.41 (the highest membership degree is
0.70), whose values have their highest degree of membership to the
“Low” linguistic group in all the input variables, except the input
variable Greenwashing, whose membership value is associated
with the linguistic value “Very Low” since it has a degree of
membership 1 (100%) and for the variable Loyalty whose relevance
value is coupled with the linguistic value “Medium”, since its
highest membership degree to said set is 0.75 (75%). The
 M.P. Martínez et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 242 (2020) 116064 15

Fig. 12. Summary of results for the scenario using the Mamdani's Inference Method for Greenwashing ¼ 1.91, Perceived Risk ¼ 3.59, Loyalty ¼ 3.82, Perceived Benefit ¼ 3.41, and
Satisfaction ¼ 7.49. Source: Prepared by the authors.
16 M.P. Martínez et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 242 (2020) 116064

Satisfaction degree (output variable) results in a 7.49, whose

highest membership degree to this value is 0.75.
Thus, to achieve a high satisfaction degree, the rest of the vari-
ables must have low values, except for the Loyalty that must be
medium or high. However, there are cases in which the loyalty
could be low, i.e., it can be a highly satisfied consumer, but not
highly loyal. In the case of Figs. 12 and 13, The greenwashing
perception of the green consumer is very low, and their risk
perception is also low, which increases confidence, satisfaction and
loyalty in the product, despite not perceiving high benefits
perceived degree in the green product. Consequently, the fuzzy
system presented reveals that these variables have a strong impact
on consumer attitudes and confidence in the product, its behavior,
and its buying decision.
As a result of the application of the previous stages, it was
deduced that the main causes that affect the level of satisfaction of
the green consumer are related to the lack of confidence when he
perceives that there is false information about the product, which
also affects your perception on the benefits and risks.
Thus, the theory is confirmed, since when the consumer per-
Fig. 13. Indication of the highest degree of membership for the “Medium” fuzzy set of
ceives the benefits in the green product, there is a positive attitude
Satisfaction point ¼ 7.49. Source: Prepared by the authors.
in the purchase intention, a higher level of satisfaction. Neverthe-
less, there is a negative relationship with the greenwashing when it
is perceived by not adding benefits. these variables, as shown in Fig. 15.
There is a negative relationship between the perceived risk and Finally, it determinates the equation that relates the values of
satisfaction, that is, that there was a negative influence on the the Satisfaction obtained in the survey and corrected Fuzzy Satis-
consumer when he perceived the greenwashing and a low level of faction by the adjustment of the linear curve between these vari-
satisfaction since when buying a product, the consumer will as- ables, as shown in Fig. 16.
sume the condition of confidence in the product. In this relation-
ship, when its practice the greenwashing, the consumer rejects the
4.2. Validation of the scales and constructs of survey
product and show a low level of satisfaction.
The perception of greenwashing has a negative relationship
To confirm that the scales adapted from their original form are
with satisfaction and loyalty for the consumption of green products
still valid and reliable in the current form, a Factorial Confirmatory
in retail. When consumers realize that they are being deceived
Analysis was performed. Thus, to test the validity of the constructs,
because of greenwashing with the product they are consuming, risk
a confirmatory factorial analysis was performed using SmatPLS
and confusion become a relevant factor in their decision-making
Software 2.0. M3, since the data originated from a Likert scale and
process. Consequently, consumers will stop buying and
violated, as expected (Ringle et al., 2014), the condition of multi-
consuming the product that has been identified (perceived) as
variate normality that models of structural equations based on
misleading. Even so, if the consumer decides to consume the
covariance demand.
product, he will purchase it without a prospect of benefit and
Among the adjustment criteria, convergent validity was tested
satisfaction and loyalty.
by means of the Average Variance Extracted (AVE) or criterion of
Fornell and Larcker (Henseler et al., 2009), that is, AVE> 0.50 for the
4.1. Validation of model
constructs of the model. Cronbach's alpha (internal consistency)
and composite reliability are used to assess whether the sample is
After the previous simulations were performed for all variables
free of bias, or whether the responses as a whole, are reliable.
used in the FIS, it was possible to compare the values obtained in
The size of the Cohen effect or indicator (f2) evaluates how each
the Fuzzy Satisfaction with the calculated Satisfaction values ob-
construct is “useful” for model adjustment. Values of 0.02, 0.15 and
tained through the survey, as shown in Fig. 14 where the rela-
0.35 are considered small, medium and large, respectively. The
tionship between the data of the Fuzzy Satisfaction and satisfaction
predictive validity (Q2) or the Stone-Geisse indicator evaluates the
of the interviewees. For this, the Pearson correlation coefficient (r)
accuracy of the adjustment model. The evaluation criteria are
was calculated and obtained a value of 0.879 which is close to 1,
values greater than zero (Hair et al., 2014). These quality indicators
which represents a high positive correlation between these sets,
are expressed in Table 6.
because when the Pearson coefficient is greater than 0.5, the cor-
The analysis of Table 6 clearly indicates that the model can be
relation between the variables is strong. The closer the coefficient is
considered adjusted as a whole, even if there is no need to elimi-
to 1, the stronger the relationship between variables. Moreover, it is
nate variables that are not adherent to it (which, in this case, did not
a direct correlation because it is between 0 and 1 (0 < r < 1).
occur), we obtained indicators that meet the adjustment
Therefore, it was possible to measure the strength of the relation-
requirements.
ship or degree of linear association between the variables using the
Pearson Coefficient. The coefficient of determination (R2) was
0.773, that is, a high coefficient of 77%. These values indicate that 4.3. Validation of the normalized scales of FIS
the proposed model is suitable for the method previously used to
calculate the degree of the green consumer's satisfaction index. Also, it validated the normalized scales of the fuzzy model using
In addition, it is possible to determine the equation that relates the t-Test, which confirms that they are still valid and reliable scales
the values of the Satisfaction obtained in the survey and Fuzzy in the present form. The confirmatory factorial analysis was used
Satisfaction by the adjustment of the polynomial curve between for the modeling of question scores. However, no such modification
 M.P. Martínez et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 242 (2020) 116064 17

Fig. 14. Linear relationship between Satisfaction index and the Fuzzy Satisfaction index.
Source: Prepared by the authors.

was made in the scores of these issues. Once these questions were
listed, the arithmetic mean of these scores was obtained, that is, the
original values of the ratings. These averages were rounded to the
nearest nonzero integer value. All this procedure was done only to
create the rules base of the fuzzy model; this was necessary to
determine the similar classes of response and to allow the fuzzy
model to create a single note to the class.
For all other validations of the model, the original (non-
rounded) means obtained directly from the database were used
(see Table 6).
The Teste-T, performed among all the variables used and with a
sample of 506 respondents, was not significant at the level of 95%
confidence. Thus, in the test, it is verified that the data were not
altered and that the presented model is reliable (Table 7).
4.4. Discussion of the results
After verifying that the model had an adequate adjustment, the
results can be analyzed from the theory. In this model, it is possible
to observe that the greenwashing perception is positively related to
perceived risk and negatively to perceived benefit, loyalty, and
satisfaction. Therefore, the greenwashing perception has a positive
effect on the risk perceived and a negative effect on the benefits
perceived in the product, and on the loyalty and satisfaction level
consumer.
In a more detailed and applied analysis of the results achieved
through the application of fuzzy logic, it can be inferred that the
results obtained confirm the theory by showing that the values of
perceived benefits and loyalty have a direct impact on the level of

Fig. 15. Linear relationship between the Satisfaction index and the Fuzzy Satisfaction index.
Source: Prepared by the authors.
18 M.P. Martínez et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 242 (2020) 116064

Fig. 16. Linear relationship between Satisfaction index and the corrected Fuzzy Satisfaction index.
Source: Prepared by the authors.

Table 6
Quality criteria for the adjustment: Average Variance Extracted (AVE), Composite Reliability, Cronbach's alpha, predictive validity (Q2) or Stone-Geisser indicator and effect size
(f2) or Cohen indicator.

AVE Composite Reliability Cronbach's Alpha Q2 f2

Perceived Benefits 0,5951 0,8959 0,8567 0,0030 0,4425

Greenwashing 0,5014 0,9172 0,8984 0,4273 0,4273
Loyalty 0,7180 0,9385 0,9212 0,0023 0,5999
Perceived Risk 0,6145 0,9046 0,8724 0,2458 0,4623
Satisfaction 0,6307 0,9066 0,8701 0,4818 0,5051
Reference Values >0,50 >0,70 >0,70 Positive See note 1

Note 1: Values of 0.02, 0.15 and 0.35 are considered small, medium and large, respectively (Hair Junior et al., 2014). Source: Prepared by the authors.

satisfaction and purchasing decision in cases of green products in greenwashing induces its consumers to error, creating a rational
retail. In the simulations performed and in the presented model it conflict and compromising the autonomy and coherence of choice.
can be observed that the perceived risk has a negative relationship Also, the greenwashing increases the possibility of consumer error
with the perceived benefit and satisfaction, i.e., that there is a at the time of the decision, and when greenwashing is perceived, it
negative influence on the consumer when he perceives the becomes negative for a company because the consumer is no longer
greenwashing and a low level of satisfaction since when buying a relying on brand and product (Chen and Chang, 2013). Therefore,
product, the consumer trusts the product. Thus, given the green- based on the literature review and the results observed in this
washing perceived practice, the consumer trends to reject the study, it can be affirmed that greenwashing is positively related to
product and show a low level of satisfaction, but this is not true in consumer confusion over the arguments used by the brands and
all cases, because, as Pagotto (2013) demonstrated, the practice of the perceived risks of buying green products. Also, greenwashing
can confuse the consumer, and this can adversely affect their
buying attitude, satisfaction, and loyalty, their perception of risk
Table 7
and benefits over a green product.
T-test.
On the other hand, when the consumer perceives benefits in the
Variable Average Standard deviation t Value p Value green product, generally, he shows a positive attitude in the pur-
GW_N 3,0059 1,0176 1,14 0,254 chase intention, a higher level of satisfaction and a negative rela-
GW 2,9925 0,9631 tionship with the greenwashing by not adding benefits. For this
PR_N 2,9921 1,0264 0,08 0,935 reason, the perception of greenwashing has a negative correlation
PR 2,9911 0,9802
Loy_N 3,0593 1,0756 2,82 0,005
or association negative with the perceived benefit of the con-
Loy 3,0161 0,9638 sumption of green products in retail and a positive relationship
PB_N 3,0455 1,0530 1,64 0,101 with consumer satisfaction. This confirms the results obtained in
PB 3,0204 0,9531 other studies about perceived benefit by Drennan et al. (2006)
Sat_N 3,0494 1,0603 2,49 0,013
Babin et al. (1994); Chandon et al. (2000); Chen and Chang
Sat 3,0132 0,9689
(2013); Wu and Chen (2014) and Correa et al. (2017).
Legend: N¼Normalized variable; Greenwashing ¼ GW; Perceived Risk ¼ PR; Generally, when the consumer perceives the greenwashing in
Perceived Benefits ¼ PB; Loyalty ¼ Loy; Satisfaction ¼ Sat. Source: Prepared by the
authors.
the green product, he has a negative attitude in the purchase
 M.P. Martínez et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 242 (2020) 116064
intention and a lower level of satisfaction. Therefore, the perception
of greenwashing has a negative relationship with loyalty and
satisfaction level. Given this, greenwashing perception has a
negative relationship with satisfaction and loyalty for the con-
sumption of green products in retail. This reinforces affirmations
about loyalty and satisfaction by Wu and Chen (2014), Paul and
Rana (2012), Chang et al. (2014), Moura et al. (2012); Verbeke
et al. (2007), García and Caro (2010, 2008), Rahim et al. (2012),
Ko et al. (2013), and Kim et al. (2012). Since products that create
security and consumer confidence and that foster greater satisfac-
tion, produce a loyalty relationship between consumers and the
product or service (Chang et al., 2014). The consumer satisfaction is
fundamental to understand consumer behavior (Moura et al., 2012;
Verbeke et al., 2007), and the knowledge of satisfaction allows to
make predictions behavior of the consumer (García and Caro,
2010). Satisfaction is the factor that most affects consumers’
awareness of the corporate image of a company (Rahim et al., 2012;
Ko et al., 2013). A positive corporate image can increase the con-
sumer's intention to buy products that a company offers, and it can
also give greater satisfaction and loyal customers (Kim et al., 2012).
For that reason, the development of the green image in companies
helps to improve the corporate image of a company (Yadav et al.,
2016).
Thus, Fig. 9 (a, b), Fig. 10 (a, b) and Fig. 11 (a, b) show that the
consumer who decides to buy appreciates aspects that add good
memories of the product when assessing aspects such as product
quality or benefits and feels a high satisfaction degree, and prac-
tically disregards aspects like risk. That is, it consumes with con-
fidence in the product that is buying and without realizing the risk.
However, when the consumer realizes that he is being cheated
by the practice of greenwashing in the product he is consuming, the
risk and confusion become a relevant factor in his decision-making
and, consequently, he will stop buying and consuming the product
that it was identified (perceived) as misleading. Even so, if the
consumer decides to consume the product, it will consume without
a prospect of benefit, loyalty, and satisfaction. This is revealed the
influence of the perceived risk on consumer purchasing decisions,
acting as a purchase inhibitor (Bettman, 1972; Peter and Ryan,
1976). Thus, the perceived risk affects the customer's purchase
decision by bringing negative consequences (Solomon, 2016; Aaker,
2012), and the greenwashing practice can undermine consumer
confidence, which generally relies on advertising and corporate
messaging to make decisions (Hamann and Kappelus, 2004). The
loss of consumer confidence in the advertising claims of the com-
panies hinders decision-making on their green purchases because
they do not know what to trust (Chen and Chang, 2013). This has a
negative effect because the greenwashing practices reduce visual
attention to truly ecological products (Guyader et al., 2017). Thus,
the results obtained confirm that the greenwashing undermines
consumer confidence in advertising as consumers often rely on
corporate advertising to make decisions (Hamann and Kapelus,
2004).
The model presented in Fig. 12 confirm the theory above-
mentioned since shows that a high degree of consumer satisfac-
tion can be achieved when the level of the greenwashing percep-
tion is low or very low (this low perception may be due to the lack
of knowledge of the greenwashing practice or the real absence risk
of this practice), when the risk perception level is low, and the
loyalty level is medium or high, even if the consumer does not
present a high level of the benefits perception on the product. From
this, it can be inferred that when the consumer takes a buying
attitude and believes in the product without taking into account
aspects such as the benefit of the green product, it is because the
consumer is faithful to the brand, the product or the “green
fashion”. This results corroborate the theories about risk perception
19
by Bauer (1960), Roselius (1971), Jacoby and Kaplan (1972),
Bettman (1972), Peter and Ryan (1976), Dowling and Staelin (1994),
Hsu and Lin (2006), Plec and Pettenger (2012), Aaker (2012), Chen
and Chang (2013), Wu and Chen (2014), Solomon (2016), and
Correa et al. (2017).
Thus, it can be said that greenwashing confuses the consumer
about the arguments used by brands and about the perception of
risk during the decision process of buying a green product, that is
when purchasing a green product. The greenwashing confuses the
consumer, and such confusion has a negative effect on the attitude
of purchase, satisfaction, loyalty, risk perception and benefits
perception on a green product. Therefore, following Chen and
Chang (2013), when greenwashing is perceived, it becomes nega-
tive for a company because the consumer is no longer relying on
brand and product.
After analyzing the decision-making aspects in the consumption
of green products in the retail that are perceived for the green-
washing and for the attitudes of purchase and beliefs of the con-
sumer, it can be affirmed that it is possible to demonstrate through
the fuzzy logic how greenwashing interferes in its decision-making
of consumption of green products in retail since retailers can in-
fluence the behavior of consumers' green purchases through in-
store marketing practices (Guyader et al., 2017). Likewise, it is
shown with fuzzy logic that the perception of greenwashing in-
fluence consumer behavior and in his level of satisfaction.
Results show that one of main problem with today's green
marketing is the lack of consumer confidence in the communica-
tion of environmental information of companies (Ottman, 2011;
Chen and Chang, 2013).
Braga Junior et al. (2016) demonstrated the effect of consumer
skepticism and this skepticism could be confirmed when the con-
sumer observes greenwashing and recognizes the risk and feels
confused with green consumption and this reinforces the impor-
tance of the company being true in the information of its products.
The practice of greenwashing causes consumer dissatisfaction, loss
of credibility, poor purchasing decisions, and inefficient allocation
of resources (Lewandowska et al., 2017). In order to reduce this
skepticism, businesses must allow consumers to obtain sufficient
information (Hoedeman, 2002).
Wu and Chen (2014) have analyzed, based on the theory of
planned behavior, how consumers construct their behavior under
the characteristics of satisfaction, loyalty, benefits, risk, attitudes,
beliefs, and control forces. In the present research, these charac-
teristics were related to the consumption characteristics of green
products to verify if the application would fit. Thus, the results
presented in this study showed that for green products, consumer
behavior also follows the concept of planned behavior, as demon-
strated by the simulations and the presented fuzzy model.
The results also demonstrate that risks are not taken into ac-
count when consumers believe in the product, but recognize
confusion in green consumption through attitudes and beliefs from
perceptions. On the other hand, when greenwashing is perceived,
perceived risk becomes significant and influences decision-making
for a particular product.
Also, the present study demonstrates to companies that having
a product identified as misleading can cause image damage, sales
volume, market share, and lower financial results. In extreme cases,
until the product is withdrawn from the market. Generally, the
main greenwashing practices, consumer deception, present in
products are related to green packaging, which refers to the rela-
tionship of the product with the environment or relates the same as
an organic product.
Moreover, it can be inferred that marketing for green products
in retail is conveying reliability, since the high degree of willingness
to satisfaction, loyalty, and perceived benefits demonstrate this
20 M.P. Martínez et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 242 (2020) 116064
reliability.
On the other hand, the consumer only becomes suspicious and,
consequently, no longer believe in the product and the company,
when he realizes that he is taking risks or being deceived in the
purchase of a product that, in fact, describes having characteristics
that, in practice, does not have and is labeled with a “makeup
product” or a greenwashing product.
The results obtained allow to verify that the fuzzy set theory is
efficient in modeling uncertainty in parameter definition and has
got results in the most varied applications (Pedrycz and Gomide,
1998; Bojadziev and Bojadziev, 1997; Zadeh, 1965). This theory is
capable of capturing imprecise information described in natural
language and convert them an into the numerical format, seeking
for approximate reasoning with inaccurate propositions through
Fuzzy Sets (Rentería, 2006).
Thus, through the survey and the application of fuzzy logic, it
was possible to prove that the consumer tends not to consume a
product when he discovers the practice of greenwashing, reducing
his degree of satisfaction. Therefore, it can be affirmed that the use
of Fuzzy logic with the Mamdani inference method allows under-
stood the relationship between the variables studied and to
generate green consumer satisfaction models in the face of green-
washing practice.
5. Conclusions
This study established a computational method capable of
interpreting the most suitable conditions to achieve consumer
satisfaction. This method, based on fuzzy logic, partially imitates
human reasoning.
Considering the survey result and the objective of the study that
leads to the development of the fuzzy model or system, it was
possible inferred that greenwashing interferes with their decision-
making in the consumption of green products in retail. The data
revealed that consumers only distrust and lose credibility in the
product and the company when they realize that they are at risk or
are being deceived in the purchase of a product that in practice
shows features that they do not have and are qualified as a green-
washed product. Therefore, consumers tend not to consume a
product when they discover the practice of greenwashing.
It was also possible to note that the Brazilian consumer is
becoming increasingly demanding and observant since the green-
washing, present in the packaging of products, is being identified
by the consumer when observed the items that form the construct
“perceived risk” and “perceived benefits”, and how it relates to
greenwashing.
On the business side, the research showed that it is not enough
for the company to “follow the trend” of the green product only by
presenting a makeup package, since, as soon as the consumer starts
to perceive the false message, the product will tend to lose market
and fall in disrepute.
Therefore, retailers should avoid greenwashing practices.
Retailing should take responsibility for selecting a variety of
products that are not misleading; otherwise, it will reduce visual
attention to true eco-friendly products. Because greenwashing
practices directly or indirectly affect consumer behavior.
According to the Pearson correlation coefficient obtained
(0.879), very close to 1, it is clear that the proposed model is suit-
able for the method previously used to calculate Satisfaction
conventionally. The validation of scales and the fuzzy model pre-
sented show that the results are feasible and the result confirm the
theory.
The results showed that by using the fuzzy system developed in
Matlab, it is possible to provide greater knowledge about the level
of satisfaction of green product consumers and their behavior
facing the perception of greenwashing. Moreover, the results
derived from the various simulations presented and developed
through the fuzzy system reinforced the results obtained with the
survey, which affirmed that when consumers perceive that they are
being cheated by the greenwashing practice in the product they are
consuming, the risk perception and confusion become a significant
burden in their decision-making. Consequently, if they decide to
consume the product, consumers will buy it without a perspective
of benefit, loyalty, and satisfaction, this is due to the effect of
skepticism in the consumer in some cases.
No precedent was found in this interpretation of results, defined
as a Fuzzy Satisfaction degree since it aims to evaluate and compare
the relationship between variables, providing a quantitative
method of decision-making for green consumer products and the
entrepreneur who chooses to use the greenwashing.
Results showed that fuzzy logic allows a more accurate infor-
mation analysis for decision-making. Also, the indicators associated
with the consumer perception have a high subjectivity degree, so it
is often confusing and impractical to integrate this indicators group
into a single model that allows a more systematic perception of
consumer behavior and company. Also, the results revealed that the
presented model is useful and easy to use and that the integration
of the indicators studied is possible.
The development of the fuzzy inference model with the in-
dicators to evaluate the green consumer behavior and their
perception facing the possible existence of greenwashing allows
the monitoring and control of the behavior of the processes that
influence each variable analyzed here. Thus facilitating the
decision-making optimization so that they are more suitable and
informed, reducing uncertainty and predicting future consumer
behavior. Besides to increasing the competitiveness level of green
product companies, since information knowledge and analysis
about the behavior of these consumers, facilitates the business
strategies improvement and competitiveness without the need to
resort to unfair competition through greenwashing. Solving, thus,
the ambiguity problems, uncertainty, and subjectivity through
simple operation mechanisms applying the FIS, which facilitate the
information analysis and management more efficient to make
informed decisions.
Based on the results, it can be concluded that it is possible to use
the postulates of fuzzy logic to achieve an evaluation of customer
satisfaction more in line with the fuzziness of satisfaction. The
application of the methodology in the studied entity, allowed to
obtain a general assessment of the satisfaction of the green con-
sumers in retail, when greenwashing is perceived and to identify
the factors that affect it.
Following the development of this study, the scientific contri-
bution is open to new theoretical and methodological frontiers on
the subject, as well as a new manner of evaluating research in the
area of marketing with consumers.
Thus, for future studies, it is proposed to evaluate a process of
image recovery of a product that has come to be recognized as a
greenwashing product. In light of these findings, it should be
assessed whether retail could assume the responsibility of not
selling greenwashing products. When not, inform consumers about
the products they are selling, to thereby bring back the trust of the
consumer seeking organic products. In this study, a measurement
scale could be proposed that allows for open responses and fuzzy
logic application for general rules from those open responses. The
membership function could be calculated through the relationship
between the numerical values that represent its degree of satis-
faction on a free scale and the linguistic terms used to define that
attitude (first person perspective), because usually when the fuzzy
logic is applied a third person perspective is used. In this way, there
would not be any a priori assumption about the distribution of
 M.P. Martínez et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 242 (2020) 116064
fuzzy values, but this would be derived empirically. Thus, a
different perspective is proposed than commonly adopted in pre-
vious research. Likewise, it is proposed to address the measure-
ment of consumer satisfaction of green products and to deepen the
relationship between numerical evaluations of consumer satisfac-
tion and the degree of uncertainty associated with linguistic
assessment. Proving empirically to what extent this methodology
can complement the results derived from traditional statistical
methods.
This fuzzy rule-based system can be expanded and used for
other variables, providing information so that consumers and en-
trepreneurs can make informed decisions that are more suitable to
their needs and context. Since, although the focus of this research
was the consumer of the green product in retail company, the
mathematical model or FIS proposed can be used in any company,
especially the retail company of green product, considering the
same input variables and adjust, according to the respondents'
answers, the rule base so that it can be used in other situations.
Finally, among the limitations of the study, it can highlight that
no precedents were found that no precedents were found in the
literature. Thus, after conducting a Systemic Bibliographic Review
to find studies to characterize greenwashing practices in retail
products, six articles were published between 2007 and 2017 that
address this theme. Thus, it can be observed that greenwashing is a
recent topic in the literature, and studies on these retail practices
are still few. There were also few studies on greenwashing, con-
sumer behavior and/or satisfaction where fuzzy logic was applied.
For example, in Scopus, between 2004 and 2018, only 13 studies
were found and in ScienceDirect, between 2016 and 2018, only 10
studies were found on Greenwashing where fuzzy logic was
applied, but there is no study that uses fuzzy logic to deal with the
relationship between greenwashing and consumer satisfaction.
Thus, this limitation will convert the presented work into a novelty
and a contribution to previous studies on the aforementioned
subjects.
Besides, it is worth noting among the limitations of the study
that the use of fuzzy logic should occur when there is a use of ap-
proximations, for the management of systems that require extreme
precision. The theory must be applied with the help of experts, so
for the use of this model in other situations the basis of rules and
rules must be aided and validated.
Acknowledgements
To the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education
Personnel (Capes) of Brazil, for investing in the development of this
study. To the Journal, Editor, and Reviewers for the care, attention,
and respect for the work done, since the conceptual aspect that we
had not perceived and which enriched this paper were pointed out.
Especially, thank you very much to the Editor and Reviewers for
providing valuable comments and important contributions,
because without his contributions we would not have been able to
improve this paper.
References
Aaker, D.A., 2012. Building Strong Brands. Simon and Schuster.
Abdala, P.R.Z., Guzzo, R.F., Santos, S.A., 2010. Green advertising or green facade? An
analysis of the greenwash level in ads with ecological appeals in Brazil [Pro-
paganda verde ou fachada verde? Uma an
alise do nível de greenwash nos
anúncios com apelos ecolo
gicos no Brasil]. XXXIV Encontro da ANPAD, RJ.
Aligleri, L., Araújo, L. V. de, 2016. Marketing communication and greenwashing on
the labels of soaps to wash clothes [Comunicaç~ ao mercadolo
gica e greenwashing
nos ro
tulos dos sabo ~ es para lavar-roupa]. Revista Eptic, Sergipe 18 (3), 214e248.
Amendola, M., Souza, A.L., Barros, L.C., 2004. Manual of the use of Fuzzy sets theory
in MATLAB [Manual do uso da teoria dos conjuntos Fuzzy no MATLAB 6.5]. CPG,
Campinas.
21
Anderson, E.W., Sullivan, M.W., 1993. The antecedents and consequences of
customer satisfaction for the firms. Mark. Sci. 12, 125e143.
Arango-Serna, M.D., Serna-Dur

rez-Ortega, G., 2012. Business manage-
an, C.A., Pe
ment indicators with fuzzy logic to make decision. La
mpsakos 1 (8), 47e53.
Atanassov, K.T., 1999. Intuitionistic Fuzzy Sets: Theory and Applications. Springer-
Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, Bulgaria.
Babin, B.J., Darden, W.R., Griffin, M., 1994. Work and/or Fun: measuring hedonic and
utilitarian shopping value. J. Consum. Res. 20 (4), 644e656.
Banzatto, D.A., Kronka, S.N., 2006. Agricultural experimentation. In: Agricultural
Experimentation.
Bauer, R.A., 1960. Consumer behavior as risk taking. In: Hancock, R.S. (Ed.), Dynamic
Marketing for a Changing World, Proceedings of the 43rd. Conference of the
American Marketing Association, pp. 389e398.
Bazillier, R., Vauday, J., 2009. The Greenwashing Machine: Is CSR More than
Communication.
Beder, S., Beder, 2002. Global Spin: the Corporate Assault on Environmentalism.
Green Books, Devon.
Bettman, J.R., 1972. Perceived risk: a measurement methodology and preliminary
findings. In: Venkatesan, M. (Ed.), SV - Proceedings of the Third Annual Con-
ference of the Association for Consumer Research. Association for Consumer
Research, Chicago, IL, pp. 394e403.
Bitner, M.J., Zeithaml, V.A., 2003. Service Marketing, third ed. Tata McGraw Hill,
New Delhi.
Bojadziev, G., Bojadziev, M., 1997. Fuzzy Logic for Business, Finance, and Manage-
ment. World Scientific Publishing Co. Ltd.
Bonini, S., Oppenheim, J., 2008. Cultivating the green consumer. Stanf. Soc. Innov.
Rev. 6, 56e61.
Braga Junior, S.S., Merlo, E.M., Da Silva, D., 2016. I do not believe in green con-
sumption: the reflection of ceticism in consumer purchasing behavior [N~ ao
acredito em consumo verde: o reflexo do ceticismo no comportamento de
Compra do Consumidor]. Rev. Gesta ~o Soc. e Ambiental 10 (3), 2e15.
Bruno, K., 1997. The world of greenwash. CorpWatch 1.
Budica, I., Puiu, S., Budica, A., 2010. Consumer behavior. Sectiunea Economie 1,
67e78.
Chandon, P., Wansink, B., Laurent, G., 2000. A benefit congruency framework of
sales promotion effectiveness. J. Mark. 64 (4), 65e81.
Chang, E.C., Lv, Y., Chou, T.J., He, Q., Song, Z., 2014. Now or later: delay's effects on
post-consumption emotions and consumer loyalty. J. Bus. Res. 67 (7),
1368e1375.
Chen, T.B., Chai, L.T., 2010. Attitude towards the environment and green products:
consumers' perspective. Manag. Sci. Eng. 4 (2), 27e39.
Chen, A., Peng, N., 2012. Green hotel knowledge and tourists' staying behaviour. Res.
Notes Rep./Ann. Tour. Res. 39, 2203e2219.
Chen, Y.S., Chang, C.H., 2013. Greenwash and green trust: the mediation effects of
green consumer confusion and green perceived risk. J. Bus. Ethics 114 (3),
489e500.
Ciribele, J.P., Caneschi, B. da S., 2011. Green Marketing: a competitive Difference or a
critical issue for companies to survive in the 21st Century [Marketing verde: um
diferencial competitivo ou uma questa ~o essencial para as empresas sobrevi-
verem no se
culo XXI]. Revista Gesta ~o Empresarial 1 (1), 114e125.
Cliath, A.G., 2007. Seeing Shades: Ecological and Socially Just Labeling, vol. 20. Or-
ganization & Environment, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp. 413e439, 2007.
Coddington, W., 1993. Environmental Marketing: Positive Strategies for Reaching
the Green Consumer. McGraw-Hill, New York.
Correa, C., Junior, S., Da Silva, D., 2017. The social control exerted by advertising: a
study on the perception of greenwashing in green products at retail. Br. J. Educ.
Soc. Behav. Sci. 19 (2), 1e9.
Coskun, S., Ozgur, L., Polat, O., Gungor, A., 2016. A model proposal for green supply
chain network design based on consumer segmentation. J. Clean. Prod. 110,
149e157.
Costa, C.G. da, 2012. Inaccurate probabilities: interval, fuzzy and fuzzy intuitionist
[Probabilidades imprecisas: intervalar, fuzzy e fuzzy intuicionista] 2012. 159 f
(Thesis. Doctoral Degree in Automation and Systems, Computer Engineering,
Telecommunications). Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal (UFRN).
Cremasco, C.P., Gabriel Filho, L.R.A., Cataneo, A., 2010. Methodology of determina-
tion of pertinence functions of fuzzy controllers for energy evaluation of
companies of position poultry keeping [Metodologia de determinaç~ ao de
funço ~es de pertine ^ncia de controladores fuzzy para avaliaç~ ao energe
tica de
empresas de avicultura de postura]. Energia na Agricultura, Botucatu 25 (1),
21e39.
Dahl, R., 2010. Green washing: do you know what you’re buying. Environ. Health
Perspect. 118 (6), A246eA252.
Dan-li, D., Zhen, F., Hong-yan, Z., 2011. Research on the Price negotiation mecha-
nism of Green Supply chain of manufacturing Industry from the angle of
customer behavior. In: International Conference on Management Science &
Engineering (Rome, Italy).
Dangelico, R.M., Vocalelli, D., 2017. Green Marketing: an analysis of definitions,
strategy steps, and tools through a systematic review of the literature. J. Clean.
Prod. 165, 1263e1279.
Davies, A., Titterington, A.J., Cochrane, C., 1995. Who buys organic food? A profile of
the purchasers of organic food in Northern Ireland. Br. Food J. 97 (10), 17e23.
Delmas, M.A., Burbano, V.C., 2011. The drivers of greenwashing. Calif. Manag. Rev.
54 (1), 64e87.
Dettmann, R.L., Dimitri, C., 2009. Who's buying organic vegetables? Demographic
characteristics of US consumers. J. Food Prod. Mark. 16 (1), 79e91.
22 M.P. Martínez et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 242 (2020) 116064
Dowling, G.R., Staelin, R., 1994. A model of perceived risk and intended risk-
handling activity. J. Consum. Res. 21 (1), 119e134.
Drennan, J., Sullivan Mort, G., Previte, J., 2006. Privacy, risk perception, and expert
online behavior: an exploratory study of household end users. J. Organ. End
User Comput. 18 (1), 1e22.
Engel, J.F., Blackwell, R.D., Miniard, R.W., 1995. Consumer Behavior. Dryden Press,
Fort Worth, TX.
Fliegelman, J.E., 2010. The next generation of greenwash: diminishing consumer
confusion through a national eco-labeling program. Fordham Urb. LJ 37, 1001.
Fornell, C., 1992. A national customer satisfaction barometer: the Swedish experi-
ence. J. Mark. 56, 6e21.
Fournier, S., Mick, D.G., 1999. Rediscovering satisfaction. J. Mark. 62, 5e23.
Furlow, N.E., 2010. Greenwashing in the new millennium. J. Appl. Bus. Econ 10 (6),
22.
Gabriel Filho, L.R., Cremasco, C.P., Putti, F.F., Chacur, M.G., 2011. Application of fuzzy
logic for the evaluation of livestock slaughtering. Eng. Agrícola 31 (4), 813e825.
García, J.A.M., Caro, L.M., 2008. Determination of the maximum ̤ variance for the
calculation of the Imprecision Factor on the scale of Measure, and extension to
different types of sampling [Determinacio
n de la m
axima varianza para el
c

alculo del Factor de Imprecisio
n sobre la escala de Medida, y extensio
n a
diferentes tipos de muestreo]. Psicothema 20 (2), 305e310.
García, J.A.M., Caro, L.M., 2009. Understanding customer loyalty through system
dynamics; the case of a public sports service in Spain. Manag. Decis. 47 (1),
151e172.
García, J.A.M., Caro, L.M., 2010. Customer satisfaction with sports services: a fuzzy
logic approach [La medicio
n de la satisfaccio
n del consumidor de servicios
deportivos a trave
s de la lo

gica borrosa]. Rev. Psicol. Deporte 19 (1), 41e58.
Goldstein, D., 2012. Green still follows green: the environment retains influence on
spending. Harris Poll. 46, 1e4. https://theharrispoll.com/new-york-n-y-may-
30-2012-since-the-summer-of-2009-harris-interactive-has-been-tracking-
americans-attitudes-toward-the-environment-as-well-as-their-engagement-
in-various-environmentally-friend/. (Accessed 17 April 2018).
Grønholdt, L., Martensen, A., 2005. Marketing redefined: changes and challenges.
Mark. Rev. 5 (2), 101e109.
Guyader, H., Ottosson, M., Witell, L., 2017. You can't buy what you can't see: retailer
practices to increase the green premium. J. Retail. Consum. Serv. 34, 319e325.
Hair Junior, J.F., Hult, G.T.M., Ringle, C., Sarstedt, M., 2014. A Primer on Partial Least
Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). SAGE Publications, Los
Angeles (Incorporated).
Hamann, R., Kapelus, P., 2004. Corporate social responsibility in mining in Southern
Africa: fair accountability or just greenwash? Development 47 (3), 85e92.
Henao, G.J.C., Zapata, G.E.P., 2004. Methodological approaches for decision making,
supported by fuzzy models [Aproximaciones metodolgicas para la toma de
decisiones, apoyadas en modelos difusos] (Thesis). Universidad Nacional de
Colombia, Medellín.
Henseler, J., Ringle, C.M., Sinkovics, R.R., 2009. The use of partial least squares path
modeling in international marketing. Adv. Int. Market. 20 (1), 277e319.
Hernik, J., 2014. Greenwashingeessence and analysis on a chosen example. In: In-
ternational Scientific Conference on Economic Science for Rural Development.
Hervani, A.A., Helms, M.M., Sarkis, J., 2005. Performance measurement for Green
supply chain management. Benchmarking Int. J. 12 (4), 330e353.
Hoedeman, O., 2002. Rioþ 10 and the greenwash of corporate globalization.
Development 45 (3), 39e42.
Hsu, T.H., Lin, L.Z., 2006. Using fuzzy set theoretic techniques to analyze travel risk:
an empirical study. Tour. Manag. 27 (5), 968e981.
Hsu, W.C., Huang, K.I., Hsu, S.M., Huang, C.H., 2016. A study of behavioral model on
green consumption. J. Bus. Econ. Manag. 4 (5), 372e377.
Hurtado, S.M., Go
mez, G.P., 2008. Fuzzy inference systems to creditworthiness
analysis. DYNA 75 (154), 215e229.
Jacoby, J., Kaplan, L.B., 1972. The components of perceived risk. In: SV-proceedings
of the Third Annual Conference of the Association for Consumer Research.
Jaiswal, D., Kant, R., 2018. Green purchasing behaviour: a conceptual framework and
empirical investigation of Indian consumers. J. Retail. Consum. Serv. 41, 60e69.
Jang, J., Mizutani, E., Sun, C., 1997. Neuro-fuzzy and Soft Computing a Computational
Approach to Learning and Machine Intelligence. Prentice Hall, New York.
Jong, M.D.T. de, Harkink, K.M., Barth, S., 2018. Making green stuff? Effects of
corporate greenwashing on consumers. J. Bus. Tech. Commun. 32 (1), 77e112.
Joshi, Y., Rahman, Z., 2015. Factors affecting green purchase behaviour and future
research directions. Int. Rev. Strateg. Manag. 3 (1e2), 128e143.
Kahle, L.R., Gurel-Atay, E., 2015. Communicating Sustainability for the Green
Economy. Routledge, New York.
Karliner, J., 1997. The Corporate Planet: Ecology and Politics in the Age of Global-
ization. Univ of California Press, California.
Karna, J., Juslin, H., Ahonen, V., Hansen, E., 2001. Green advertising: greenwash or a
true reflection of marketing strategies? Greener Manag. Int. 59e71.
Kasabov, N., 1998. Foundations of Neural Networks, Fuzzy Systems and Knowledge
Engineering. The MIT Press, Cambridge.
Kim, C., Galliers, R.D., Shin, N., Ryoo, J.H., Kim, J., 2012. Factors influencing Internet
shopping value and customer repurchase intention. Electron. Commer. Res.
Appl. 11 (4), 374e387.
Kirilova, E.G., Bancheva, N.G.V., 2017. Environmentally friendly management of
dairy supply chain for designing a green products' portfolio. J. Clean. Prod. 1
(67), 493e504.
Ko, E., Hwang, Y.K., Kim, E.Y., 2013. Green marketing' functions in building corporate
image in the retail setting. J. Bus. Res. 66 (10), 1709e1715.
Kosko, B., 1994. Fuzzy systems as universal approximators. IEEE Trans. Comput. 43
(11), 1329e1333.
Lane, E.L., 2012. Green marketing goes negative: the advent of reverse green-
washing. Eur. J. Risk Regul. 3 (4), 582e588.
Laufer, W.S., 2003. Social accountability and corporate greenwashing. J. Bus. Ethics
43 (3), 253e261.
Lewandowska, A., Witczak, J., Kurczewski, P., 2017. Green marketing todayea mix of
trust, consumer participation and life cycle thinking. Management 21 (2),
28e48.
Lin, R.J., 2013. Using fuzzy DEMATEL to evaluate the green supply chain manage-
ment practices. J. Clean. Prod. 40, 32e39.
Lozano, M.C., Fuentes, F., 2003. Fuzzy treatment of the intangible in the valuation of
Internet companies [Tratamiento borroso del intangible en la valoracio
n de
empresas de Internet]. Edicio
n Electro
nica, pp. 84e688.
Lu, L., Bock, D., Joseph, M., 2013. Green marketing: what the Millennials buy. J. Bus.
Strat. 34 (6), 3e10.
Lyon, T.P., Maxwell, J.W., 2011. Greenwash: corporate environmental disclosure
under threat of audit. J. Econ. Manag. Strategy 20 (1), 3e41.
Lyon, T.P., Montgomery, A.W., 2015. The means and end of greenwash. Organ. En-
viron. 28 (2), 223e249.
Mamdani, E.H., Assilian, S., 1975. An experiment in linguistic synthesis with a fuzzy
logic controller. Int. J. Man Mach. Stud. 7 (1), 1e13.
Mamdani, E.H., 1974. Application for fuzzy algorithms for the control of a dynamic
plant. Proc. IEEE 121, 1585e1588, 1974.
Mamdani, E.H., 1976. Advances in the linguistic synthesis of fuzzy controllers. Int. J.
Man Mach. Stud. 8 (6), 669e678.
Mathiyazhagan, K., Govindan, K., NoorulHaq, A., Geng, Y., 2013. An ISM approach for
the barrier analysis in implementing green supply chain management. J. Clean.
Prod. 47, 283e297.
Matthes, J., Wonneberger, A., 2014. The skeptical green consumer revisited: testing
the relationship between green consumerism and skepticism toward adver-
tising. J. Advert. 43 (2), 115e127.
Mayrand, K., Trottier, S., 2011. Research on the whitening eco [Investigacio
n sobre el
ecoblanqueamiento]. State World: global geopolitical economic yearbook [El
estado del mundo: anuario econo
mico geopolítico mundial] 27, 175e179.
Moravcikova, D., Krizanova, A., Kliestikova, J., Rypakova, M., 2017. Green marketing
as the source of the competitive advantage of the business. Sustainability 9 (12),
2218.
Mostafa, R.B., Lages, C.R., Shabbir, H.A., Thwaites, D., 2015. Corporate image: a
service recovery perspective. J. Serv. Res. 18 (4), 468e483.
Moura, A.P.D., Cunha, L.M., Castro-Cunha, M., Lima, R.C., 2012. A comparative
evaluation of women's perceptions and importance of sustainability in fish
consumption: an exploratory study among light consumers with different ed-
ucation levels. Manag. Environ. Qual. Int. J. 23 (4), 451e461.
Nielsen Media Research, 2014. Doing well by doing good. http://www.nielsen.com/
content/dam/nielsenglobal/apac/docs/reports/2014/Nielsen-Global-Corporate-
Social-Responsibility-Report-June-2014.pdf. (Accessed 17 April 2018).
Nyilasy, G., Gangadharbatla, H., Paladino, A., 2014. Perceived Greenwashing: the
interactive effects of green advertising and corporate environmental perfor-
mance on consumer reactions. J. Bus. Ethics 125 (4), 693e707.
Oliver, R.L., 1997. Satisfaction: A Behavioral Perspective on the Consumer. McGraw-
Hill, New York.
Oliver, R.L., 1999. Whence consumer loyalty? J. Mark. 33e44.
Ottman, J.A., 2011. The New Rules of Green Marketing: Strategies, Tools and
Inspiration for Sustainable Branding, 1 ed. Berret-Koehler Publishers Inc, S~ ao
Francisco.
Paço, A.M.F., Raposo, M.L.B., Leal Filho, W., 2009. Identifying the green consumer: a
segmentation study. J. Target. Meas. Anal. Mark. 17 (1), 17e25.
Pagotto, E.L., 2013. Greenwashing: The Ethical Conflicts of Advertising [Green-
washing: os conflitos e
ticos da propaganda] (Thesis). Universidade de S~ ao
Paulo-USP, S~ ao Paulo, p. 162.
Paiva, T., Proença, R., 2011. Green Marketing [Marketing Verde]. Almedina, Sa ~o
Paulo.
Parguel, B., Benoît-Moreau, F., Larceneux, F., 2011. How sustainability ratings might
deter ‘greenwashing’: a closer look at ethical corporate communication. J. Bus.
Ethics 102 (1), 15.
Parguel, B., Benoît-Moreau, F., Russell, C.A., 2015. Can evoking nature in advertising
mislead consumers? The power of ‘executional greenwashing. Int. J. Advert. 34
(1), 107e134.
Paul, J., Modi, A., Patel, J., 2016. Predicting green product consumption using theory
of planned behavior and reasoned action. J. Retail. Consum. Serv. 29, 123-13.
Paul, J., Rana, J., 2012. Consumer behavior and purchase intention for organic food.
J. Consum. Mark. 29 (6), 412e422.
Pedrycz, W., Gomide, F., 1998. An Introduction to Fuzzy Sets: Analysis and Design.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology-MIT Press.
Pereira, D.F., Bighi, C.A., Gabriel Filho, L.R.A., Cremasco, C.P.C., 2008. System fuzzy for
estimate of welfare of broiler breeders [Sistema fuzzy para estimativa do bem-
estar de matrizes pesadas]. Engenharia Agrícola, Jaboticabal 28 (4), 624e634.
Perera, C., Auger, P., Klein, J., 2016. Green consumption practices among young
environmentalists: a practice theory perspective. J. Bus. Ethics 1e22.

rez, Z., Rafael, E., 2012. Development of a balanced scorecard implementation
Pe
model with fuzzy logic for decision making in a service company in the elec-
tricity sector [Desarrollo de un modelo de implementacio
n del balanced
scorecard con lo
gica difusa para la toma de decisiones en una empresa de
servicios del sector ele
ctrico] (Thesis). Universidad Nacional de Colombia,
 M.P. Martínez et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 242 (2020) 116064
Medellín.
Peter, J.P., Ryan, M.J., 1976. An investigation of perceived risk at the brand level.
J. Mark. Res. 13, 184e188.
Pinto, A., Rocco, A., 2012. Critical analysis on hyperconsumption and sustainability -
The important role of advertising communication in the process of stimulus
and awareness [Ana
lise crítica sobre o hiperconsumismo e a sustentabilidade e
O importante papel da comunicaç~ ao publicit

aria no processo de estímulo e
conscientizaça ~o]. XVII Congress of Communication Sciences in the Southeast
Region. Ouro PretoeMG, Brazil.
Plec, E., Pettenger, M., 2012. Greenwashing consumption: the didactic framing of
ExxonMobil's energy solutions. Environ. Commun. J. Nat. Cult. 6 (4), 459e476.
Polonsky, M.J., 2011. Transformative green marketing: impediments and opportu-
nities. J. Bus. Res. 64 (12), 1311e1319.
Rahim, A.G., Ignatius, I.U., Adeoti, O.E., 2012. Is customer satisfaction an indicator of
customer loyalty? Aust. J. Bus. Manag. Res. 2 (07), 14e20.
Rajasekharan, S., Vijayalakshmi, G.A., 2003. Neural Networks, Fuzzy Logic and Ge-
netic Algorithms. Prentice Hall, New Delhi.
Rana, J., Paul, J., 2017. Consumer behavior and purchase intention for organic food. A
Review and Research Agenda. J. Retail. Consum. Serv. 38, 157e165.
Rentería, A.R., 2006. Estimation of fuzzy probability from inaccurate data (Doctoral
dissertation [Estimaç~ ao de probabilidade fuzzy a partir de dados imprecisos]
(Thesis. Doctoral Degree in Electrical Engineering). PUC-Rio, Rio de Janeiro.
Ringle, C.M., Silva, D., Bido, D.S., 2014. Modeling of structural equations using
SmartPLS [Modelagem de equaço ~es estruturais com utilizaça
~o do SmartPLS].
Revista Brasileira de Marketing 13 (2), 54e71.
Roselius, T., 1971. Consumer rankings of risk reduction methods. J. Mark. 35 (1),
56e61.
Seele, P., Gatti, L., 2017. Greenwashing revisited: in search of a typology and accu-
sation-based definition incorporating legitimacy strategies. Bus. Strateg. Envi-
ron. 26 (2), 239e252.
Seiders, K., Voss, G.B., Grewal, D., Godfrey, A.L., 2005. Do satisfied customers buy
more? Examining moderating influences in a retailing context. J. Mark. 69 (4),
26e43.
Shaw, I.S., Simo ~es, M.G., 1999. Fuzzy Control and Modeling [Controle e Modelagem
Fuzzy]. Editora Edgard Blücher ltda, S~ ao Paulo.
Sirieix, L., Delanchy, M., Remaud, H., Zepeda, L., Gurviez, P., 2013. Consumers’ per-
ceptions of individual and combined sustainable food labels: a UK pilot
investigation. Int. J. Consum. Stud. 37 (2), 143e151.
Solomon, M.R., 2016. Consumer Behavior - 11th Edition: Buying, Owning and Being
[O Comportamento do consumido - 11a Ediç~ ao: Comprando, possuindo e
Sendo]. Bookman Editora.
Sousa, J.M., Castro, A.L. de O., Oliveira, J.M.S.R., 2016. Green Marketing: the influence
of ecological products in the buying decision of consumers in supermarkets in a
small city of Minas Gerais [A influe ^ncia dos produtos ecolo
gicos na decisa
~o de
compra dos consumidores nos supermercados de uma cidade no interior de
23
Minas Gerais]. Conexa ~o Cie^ncia (Online) 11 (2), 71e82.
Suki, N.M., 2017. Green products usage: structural relationships on customer
satisfaction and loyalty. Int. J. Sustain. Dev. World Ecol. 24 (1), 88e95.
Takagi, T., Sugeno, M., 1985. Fuzzy identification of systems and its applications to
modeling and control. IEEE Trans. Syst., Man, and Cyber. 15, 116e132.
Tavares, F., Ferreira, G., 2012. Green Marketing: a look at the tensions between
greenwashing and ecopropaganda in building the ecological appeal in adver-
tising communication [Marketing Verde: um olhar sobre as tenso ~es entre
greenwashing e ecopropaganda na construça ~o do apelo ecolo
gico na
comunicaç~ ao publicita
ria]. Rev. Espaço Acade^mico 12 (138), 23e31.
TerraChoice Environmental Marketing, 2007. In: The Six Sins of Greenwashing.
http://sinsofgreenwashing.org/findings/greenwashing-report-2007. (Accessed
17 April 2018).
TerraChoice Environmental Marketing, 2009. In: Greenwashing Report. TerraChoice
Environmental Marketing, London. http://sinsofgreenwashing.com/
…/greenwashing-report-2009/. (Accessed 17 April 2018).
Tsai, M.T., Wu, H.L., Liang, W.K., 2008. Fuzzy decision making for market positioning
and developing strategy for improving service quality in department stores.
Qual. Quantity 42 (3), 303e319.
Tseng, S.C., Hung, S.W., 2013. A framework identifying the gaps between customers'
expectations and their perceptions in green products. J. Clean. Prod. 59,
174e184.
Verbeke, W., Sioen, I., Brunsø, K., De Henauw, S., Van Camp, J., 2007. Consumer
perception versus scientific evidence of farmed and wild fish: exploratory in-
sights from Belgium. Aquacult. Int. 15 (2), 121e136.
Vidal, D., Badie, B., 2010. The state of the world 2011. World geopolitical economic
yearbook 2011 [El estado del mundo 2011. Anuario econo
mico geopolítico
mundial 2011]. Akal, Madrid.
Wagner, K., 2015. Reading packages: social semiotics on the shelf. Visual Commu-
nication. Reino Unido 14 (2), 193e220.
Wang, L.X., 1992. Fuzzy systems are universal approximators. In: Fuzzy Systems,
1992. IEEE International Conference on. IEEE, pp. 1163e1170.
Wu, S.I., Chen, J.Y., 2014. A model of green consumption behavior constructed by the
theory of planned behavior. Int. J. Mark. Stud. 6 (5), 119e132.
Yadav, R., Kumar Dokania, A., Swaroop Pathak, G., 2016. The influence of green
marketing functions in building corporate image: evidences from hospitality
industry in a developing nation. Int. J. Contemp. Hosp. Manag. 28 (10),
2178e2196.
Yadav, R., Pathak, G.S., 2017. Determinants of consumers' green purchase behavior
in a developing nation: applying and extending the theory of planned behavior.
Ecol. Econ. 134, 114e122.
Zadeh, L.A., 1965. Fuzzy Sets. Information and Control, New York, pp. 338e353.
Zhu, Q., Sarkis, J., 2016. Green marketing and consumerism as social change in
China: analyzing the literature. Int. J. Prod. Econ. 181, 289e302.