Signaling the Green Sell: The Influence of Eco-Label Source, Argument Specificity, and Product Involvement on Consumer Trust
Atkinson and Rosenthal start from the point that consumers cannot check green claims themselves and rely on signals such as eco-labels. In an experiment with 233 participants varying argument specificity (specific or general), label source (government or corporate) and product involvement (low or high), specific arguments consistently built more trust in the label's source. Source mattered only for low-involvement products, where corporate labels produced more positive attitudes. The outcomes were trust and attitudes, not purchases.
Atkinson and Rosenthal start from the point that consumers cannot check green claims themselves and rely on signals such as eco-labels. In an experiment with 233 participants varying argument specificity (specific or general), label source (government or corporate) and product involvement (low or high), specific arguments consistently built more trust in the label's source. Source mattered only for low-involvement products, where corporate labels produced more positive attitudes. The outcomes were trust and attitudes, not purchases.
Written from the abstract, OpenAlex record with Crossref citation details, 2026-11-03.
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Atkinson, L., & Rosenthal, S. (2014). Signaling the Green Sell: The Influence of Eco-Label Source, Argument Specificity, and Product Involvement on Consumer Trust. Journal of Advertising, 43(1). doi:10.1080/00913367.2013.834803 https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2013.834803