Unveiling the linkages between greenwashing, brand hate, and negative consumer behavior: the moderating effect of environmental concern

Numerous companies are striving to improve their environmental reputation by highlighting their sustainability initiatives to the public. To do this, they are adopting green marketing strategies to gain a competitive advantage and appeal to environmentally aware consumers. However, not all claims made through green marketing truly reflect the companies’ actual environmental practices, leading to perceptions of greenwashing (GW). While previous research has focused on the financial and ethical consequences of GW, this study fills a key gap by exploring the emotional and behavioral reactions it triggers. In particular, this study, guided by expectancy violations theory, explores how GW contributes to brand hate (BH) and leads to negative consumer actions, such as consumer-brand boycott (CBB) and consumer-brand sabotage (CBS), while also investigating whether environmental concern (EC) influences the GW-BH relationship. To investigate these dynamics, data was gathered from 391 participants in Yemen using a convenience sampling technique and analyzed through structural equation modeling. The findings indicate that GW positively contributes to BH (b = 0.577, p < 0.01) at confidence intervals (0.445, 0.660), which in turn significantly influences both CBB (b = 0.499, p < 0.01) at confidence intervals (0.338, 0.644), and CBS (b = 0.600, p < 0.01) at confidence intervals (0.459,0.728). However, the moderating effect of EC on the GW-BH relationship was not supported (b = 0.053, p > 0.05) at confidence intervals (− 0.011, 0.186). This study extends EVT by demonstrating how unmet ethical and environmental expectations trigger intense consumer backlash, particularly within a collectivist and religiously influenced cultural context like Yemen. The findings also underscore the importance of cultural and ethical considerations in consumer responses to corporate sustainability claims. Practically, businesses should prioritize transparency and authenticity in their environmental initiatives to prevent reputational damage and consumer distrust. Moreover, companies operating in culturally sensitive markets must align sustainability claims with genuine environmental efforts to maintain credibility and consumer loyalty.