The greenwashing dilemma: Understanding tolerance to sustainability deception in buyer-supplier relationships

Abstract

As ESG claims increasingly shape B2B markets, buyers face a dilemma: how to safeguard sustainability integrity when supplier disclosures may be misleading yet difficult to verify. Drawing on 19 semi-structured interviews with EU-based procurement and sustainability managers and ESG experts/consultants, we examine greenwashing tolerance: buyers' deliberate continuation of exchange under suspected, ambiguous, or contested supplier ESG deception. Using abductive qualitative analysis informed by relationship marketing theory and the dynamic relational view, we show how tolerance is sustained by relational continuity conditions, calibrated by buyer interpretation and contextual pressures, narrowed by intentionality attribution and exposure risk, and translated into reactive governance measures. Relational embeddedness and switching costs can sustain tolerance by lowering scrutiny and raising the short-run costs of confrontation, especially when enforcement is difficult and evidence remains ambiguous. The buyer's sustainability stance and perceived dyadic divergence in ESG commitment shape whether questionable claims are interpreted as remediable misalignment or deliberate deception. When claims are viewed as intentional and consequential, tolerance declines and governance escalates from remedial engagement to sanctions and termination. We synthesize these mechanisms into an integrative conceptual framework and six research propositions, offering guidance on layered verification, predefined escalation paths, and capability building to safeguard ESG integrity.