Despite growing concern about environmental and social issues, there remains a strong degree of skepticism about the actual intentions of many companies, with accusations of greenwashing abound.

New research from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management highlights how pursuing environmental or social causes in the belief that it will boost one’s bottom line is likely to backfire.  Using social or environmental values for profit or reputational gain is likely to undermine faith in the organization and people’s commitment to the values.

“It sets a different norm for appropriate use of the value,” the researchers say. “These are things that we are supposed to pursue as ends in themselves and this is shifting how people might think about that.”

Self-interest

Across a number of studies, the researchers found that when values were used for self-interest by organizations, people were far less likely to back those causes.

For instance, the researchers cite a post made on social media by NASCAR in support of Earth Day ended up reducing the respect people had for the environmental protection event compared to when a similar message was made by an organization devoted to ecological conservation.

The study shows that values under evident threat are most likely to trigger outrage in people.  For instance, if money that was initially allocated for a particular cause ends up being used for other purposes.  The authors argue, however, that this doesn’t occur if the value is at least superficially supported, even if the ultimate outcome is not as robust as was initially intended.

It is still possible, however, for an organization to link itself with social causes without diminishing those causes.  All it takes is for the organization to show legitimate commitment to those causes.  From a consumer perspective, the authors argue that it’s vital that we look at campaigning with a critical view to ensure we’re not taken in by greenwashing.

“Grassroots action is still important and upholding our own commitment to these causes is still very valuable in the face of all of this information,” they conclude.