Silent Silent Sustainability: How Green-Hushing Impact Startups’ Social Media Engagement and Consumer Trust

The current study determines the impact of green-hushing, which is the intentional under-communication of genuine sustainability initiatives to avoid scrutiny, on consumer trust, brand performance, and social media engagement, while examining the moderating role of brand authenticity. Grounded in Stakeholder theory and Signaling theory, this research employs a quantitative approach utilizing survey data gathered from 380 managers within China’s startup ecosystem, specifically focusing on the manufacturing and textile sectors. Hypothesized relationships were tested using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM), including bootstrapping with 5,000 resamples to evaluate complex mediation and moderation paths. The outcomes indicate that green-hushing has a positive effect on consumer trust which in turn contributes towards brand performance and generates a social media response. Additionally, brand authenticity enhances the relationship between green-hushing and consumer trust, indicating that even restrained, discreet sustainability communications work better when the brand is perceived as authentic, as it alleviates consumer skepticism often associated with aggressive green marketing in the Chinese market. These findings have theoretical value as they broaden the present discussion on sustainability communication beyond greenwashing by illustrating that under-communication strategies are capable of generating performance and trust. Practically, the outcomes of this study could be used by start-ups and marketers as a guide for tailoring sustainability messages in a way which ensures authenticity and that messages do not face consumer-skepticism. Ultimately, the study contributes towards knowledge on how green-hushing works in China’s rapidly transforming digital markets and shows how it could be used as a trust-building and performance enhancing strategy in sustainability marketing.