Strategies For Building Green Brand Story Authenticity And Its Effects On Green Trust

With the national “Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality Strategy” vigorously promoted,the concept of green consumption gradually permeates through the public,and green brands are increasingly preferred by consumers.However,in order to become more lucrative,many brands put on the cloak of “greenwashing”.A large number of“greenwashing” behaviors not only confuse and lure consumers,but also bring a crisis of trust to real green brands.How to effectively communicate the brand green value concept to consumers so as to gain consumers’ green trust is of particular importance.Authenticity is one of the cornerstones of contemporary marketing and the first principle of green brand marketing.At present,brand authenticity has become a hot topic in the field of brand research abroad.Due to the information asymmetry between consumers and green brands,consumers are unable to judge the quality and function of green brands through personal experience,thus weakening the perception of authenticity of brands.Although there is no consensus on the dimension of brand authenticity,scholars generally believe that brand authenticity is a multidimensional construct.Some scholars have discussed the components of green brand authenticity,but there is a dearth of research focusing on the ways by which green brands display brand authenticity.Past studies have shown that brand storytelling is a very effective means to communicate corporate green development values.Many green brands tell their brand stories of green development from different perspectives,and a good brand story brings success to brands.However,the research investigates how green brands present authenticity through brand stories is scarce.Therefore,In order to lay a theoretical foundation for the embodiment of the authenticity of green brand story,this study systematically reviews the current research findings in the field of brand story and brand authenticity at home and abroad,and uses Grounded Theory to refine the dimensions of green brand story authenticity.As one of the core elements of brand story,authenticity has been proved to significantly affect brand trust,thus affecting consumers’ brand attitudes and behaviors.However,the current literature seldom excavates and demonstrates the cause and effect of brand story authenticity.This study used a variety of empirical analysis methods to examine the impact of green brand story authenticity on green trust,and discussed the moderating role of different types of self-construction plays in in the relationship between the two constructs.An eye tracking experiment was designed to explore the differences in consumers’ perception of brand authenticity of different types of green brand stories,and to provide practical implications for the construction of green brand stories.Through plot design and content construction,brand stories could elicit narrative transportation,immersing consumers,and then influencing or changing consumers’ attitudes and behaviors.Green brand stories also need to be presented to consumers with a reasonable narrative structure in order to effectively convey the concept of brand value.Narrative rhetoric strategy is an important method to induce narrative transportation,but the academic circle seldom examines the effect of narrative rhetoric strategy on the authenticity construction of green brand stories.In this study,anthropomorphism,reversion and symbolism were introduced to construct the authenticity of green brand stories,and the relationship among narrative rhetoric,immersion and brand authenticity was empirically tested.The specific content of this study is as follows: first,the study takes the authenticity of green brand stories as the research object,reviewing systematically the research results in the field of brand stories and brand authenticity at home and abroad through bibliometric analysis software and literature research method.Second,a Grounded Theory method is employed to examine the brand story texts and first-hand interview data of 40 green brands to extract dimensions of green brand story authenticity,and the rationality of the measurement index system of dimensions of green brand story authenticity is tested.Third,an empirical analysis of 504 sample data is conducted to test the impact of green brand story authenticity on green trust,and the moderating effect of consumers’ self-construction type is also investigated.Based on BP neural network model,the extent to which green brand story authenticity affects green trust is analyzed,which further supports the results of structural equation model.Fourth,the differences of consumers’ perception of brand authenticity of different types of green brand stories(brand own story vs.brand product story vs.consumer story)are tested by eye movement tracking experiment.Fifth,narrative rhetoric is used to construct the authenticity of green brand story,and the validity is tested by structural equation model.Finally,the conclusion of this study is provided,and the research limitations and future research direction are briefly described.Based on the research results,this study draws the following conclusions:First,the measurement index system of authenticity dimension of green brand story is developed.Through hierarchical clustering analysis of qualitative coding analysis,this study proposes that the authenticity of green brand story is composed of three dimensions:archetypal authenticity,constructional authenticity and emotional authenticity.The archetype authenticity includes green brand origin,green subject symbolism and green value originality.Constructional authenticity includes the logicality of green narrative and the reliability of green narrative;Emotional authenticity includes honesty,naturalness,innateness and morality.The dimensions of authenticity of green brand story does not exist independently,but dependently.This study develops a scale consisting of 15 measurement items,and demonstrates the rationality of the measurement index system through reliability and validity analysis,exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis of empirical data.Second,the study clarifies the influence of the authenticity dimensions of green brand story on green trust.The empirical analysis of structural equation model shows that all dimensions of green brand story authenticity have a significant impact on green trust,but different levels of self-construction have different moderating effects on the relationship.Among them,for independent self-constructed consumers,archetypal authenticity can promote consumers’ green trust better;For interdependent selfconstruction consumers,emotional authenticity can promote consumers’ green trust.The moderating effect of self-construction level on the relationship between green brand authenticity and consumers’ green trust is not significant.Third,different types of green brand stories have demonstrated significantly different effects on consumers’ visual attention and brand authenticity perception.Compared to brand initiation stories and brand product stories,consumer stories have the greatest impact on consumers’ visual attention and tend to generate higher brand authenticity perception evaluation,while brand initiation stories have the lowest visual attention and authenticity perception evaluation.When consumers read green brand stories,they pay more attention to and stare longer at the story content described by rhetorical strategy.Fourth,green brands can construct green brand story by using narrative rhetoric.In this study,anthropomorphism,reversion and symbolism are applied to story construction strategies,and effects of different rhetorical devices on consumers’ authenticity perception and trust are tested through empirical analysis,providing theoretical guidance for green brands to craft authentic green brand stories.To sum up,this study has made contributions in that:First,through Grounded Theory research and empirical analysis,the key dimensions of the authenticity of green brand stories are extracted,and a set of reliable green brand story authenticity measurement index system is developed,which expand the research in the field of brand story and brand authenticity.Second,the study clarifies the influence of green brand story authenticity on green trust and the influence level of each subdimension,and enriches literatures regarding the trust theory and green brand story authenticity.Third,narrative rhetoric strategy is introduced to construct green brand story,which provides a new angle for green brand story marketing.Last,on the basis of traditional experimental methods,eye movement tracking technology is introduced to test the differences of consumers’ visual attention and brand authenticity perception of different types of green brand stories,which enriches the toolbox of cognitive behavior research in the field of green brand stories.