The impact of corporate greenhushing behavior on employees’ corporate social responsibility engagement in the hotel industry context: The moderating role of transparent information disclosure mechanism

Abstract

Recently, more and more businesses are engaging in greenhushing strategies due to the fear of being accused of greenwashing. Therefore, this study aims to explore the causes and consequences of greenhushing behavior in the hotel industry context. The research focuses on five factors: reputational risk, conservatism, corporate greenhushing behavior, employees’ corporate social responsibility engagement, and a transparent information disclosure mechanism. The authors investigated the hypotheses provided by 318 survey samples from employees working in different departments in hotels in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam using SmartPLS structural equation modeling. The results show that reputational risk positively affects corporate greenhushing behavior through the mediating role of conservatism. However, the impact of reputational risk on employees’ corporate social responsibility engagement is negative. Similarly, corporate greenhushing behavior also has a negative influence on employees’ corporate social responsibility engagement. Notably, the transparent information disclosure mechanism moderates the relationship between reputational risk, conservatism, and corporate greenhushing behavior. As a result, this research provides significant theoretical implications for exploring the causes and consequences of corporate greenhushing behavior. Finally, the study proposes practical and managerial implications for each factor in the researchmodel, thereby providing important insights and directions for sustainable development and corporate governance