Green Promises Only Sell Cosmetics When Consumers Actually Trust the Brand

The global cosmetics industry has spent the last decade wrapping itself in green. Recyclable packaging, vegan formulations, carbon-neutral factories and reef-safe sunscreen now dominate product launches, advertising campaigns and shelf displays. Yet a persistent question has haunted marketers and researchers alike: does all this sustainability messaging actually translate into purchases, or do consumers simply nod approvingly and reach for the same lipstick they always buy? A new peer-reviewed study published in Discover Sustainability offers a carefully quantified answer, and it hinges on a single, deceptively simple variable: brand trust.

The research, conducted by Bui Huy Khoi of the Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, set out to disentangle the psychological machinery that connects sustainability perceptions to buying decisions in the cosmetics sector. Rather than asking consumers directly whether they intend to buy green products, the study built a structural model in which four sustainability-related factors, green attitude, green subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and green advertising, were tested for their influence on brand trust, which in turn was tested as a driver of purchase intention. The design reflects a growing recognition in consumer psychology that intentions are rarely shaped by attitudes alone; they are mediated by layers of belief, social context and confidence in the seller.

Methodologically, the study took a mixed-methods approach. In the first, qualitative phase, the researcher refined and contextualised the measurement scales, ensuring that the survey instruments captured what green attitude, social pressure, control and advertising genuinely mean to cosmetics consumers in an emerging market rather than importing constructs wholesale from Western literature. In the second, quantitative phase, survey data were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling, or PLS-SEM, a statistical technique well suited to testing networks of hypothesised relationships between latent psychological variables. PLS-SEM estimates how strongly each construct predicts the next, allowing the researcher to quantify both direct effects and the indirect, mediated pathways that run through brand trust.

The results are striking in their asymmetry. Three of the four sustainability factors, green attitude, perceived behavioural control and green advertising, exerted a significant positive impact on brand trust. In plain terms, consumers who hold favourable dispositions toward environmentally friendly products, who feel capable of actually choosing and using green cosmetics, and who are exposed to credible green advertising, come to trust the brands behind those products. That trust then carries the weight: brand trust mediated the relationship between all three of these factors and purchase intention, acting as the bridge between what consumers believe about sustainability and what they decide to buy.

The fourth factor, however, refused to cooperate. Green subjective norms, the perceived social pressure from family, friends and reference groups to buy sustainable products, showed no statistically significant influence within the model. This null result is arguably the most provocative finding in the paper. Much of the classical literature on pro-environmental behaviour, rooted in the theory of planned behaviour, treats subjective norms as a core pillar of intention formation. The study’s finding suggests that, at least among the young, digitally engaged consumers surveyed in this emerging-market setting, the decision to buy green cosmetics is not primarily a social conformity play. People are not buying sustainable lipstick because their friends approve; they are buying it because they trust the brand and feel personally able to make the choice.

Why would social norms fail while personal attitudes and perceived control succeed? One plausible reading, consistent with the study’s framing, is that cosmetics are a highly personal, identity-laden product category. Choices about skin, scent and appearance are made at the level of the individual mirror, not the dinner table. In a digital-first consumer environment, information about a brand’s environmental credentials arrives through advertising and online content rather than through face-to-face social endorsement, which may weaken the channel through which subjective norms traditionally operate. The author is careful to caution, however, that this pattern should not be interpreted as broadly generalizable across consumer segments or markets; norms may matter far more in other cultures, age groups or product categories.

The mediation finding deserves particular attention because it reframes how sustainability marketing works. If green attitudes and green advertising influenced purchase intention directly, the managerial prescription would be simple: make consumers feel positive and keep advertising. But the model shows that these factors work on intention largely through trust. Sustainability perceptions are, in effect, an input into a trust-building process, and trust is the currency that gets spent at the checkout. This has a sobering implication for an industry plagued by greenwashing accusations. When a brand’s environmental claims are perceived as exaggerated or false, the damage is not confined to the credibility of the claim itself; it corrodes the very mechanism through which all sustainability messaging converts into sales.

For managers, the study’s practical message is pointed. In this specific context, building trust through credible green communication and enhancing consumers’ perceived behavioural control may be more effective than relying on social influence mechanisms. Credible communication means verifiable claims, transparency about ingredients and sourcing, and advertising that can withstand scrutiny rather than vague eco-imagery. Enhancing perceived control means lowering the practical barriers to green choices: clear labelling, accessible price points, easy availability and product performance that matches conventional alternatives. A consumer who believes a green cosmetic will work, can find it easily and can afford it is a consumer positioned to trust the brand behind it, and trust is what converts belief into a purchase.

The study also contributes to a broader scholarly conversation about emerging markets. Much of the sustainability marketing literature has been built on data from Europe, North America and developed East Asia, where environmental awareness has had decades to mature. Emerging markets present a different landscape: rapidly growing middle classes, younger demographics, high digital engagement and environmental concerns that often arrive alongside, rather than after, mass consumption. Understanding how green perceptions function in such settings matters not only for the cosmetics industry but for any sector betting that the next generation of consumers will pay for sustainability. The finding that trust, not social pressure, is the pivotal variable offers a testable hypothesis for researchers working in other emerging-market contexts.

There are, of course, limits to what any single survey-based model can establish. Structural equation modelling identifies associations consistent with a theoretical pathway; it cannot prove causation in the experimental sense, and the study’s own author flags that the limited role of subjective norms in this sample should not be over-read. The sample’s composition, young and digitally engaged consumers, means the findings may not extend to older shoppers or to markets where green consumption follows different social dynamics. Still, the study’s contribution is clear and well-earned: it clarifies the relative importance of selected green factors in shaping brand trust and, indirectly, purchase intention, and it elevates trust from a vague buzzword to a measurable, mediating mechanism. In an industry where green claims multiply faster than the evidence behind them, that is a finding worth trusting.

Subject of Research: The effect of sustainability perceptions and brand trust on purchase intention for green cosmetics

Article Title: Sustainability, brand trust, and purchase intent in the cosmetics industry

Article References: Khoi, B. H. (2026). Sustainability, brand trust, and purchase intent in the cosmetics industry. Discover Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-026-04845-8

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s43621-026-04845-8

Keywords: sustainability marketing, brand trust, purchase intention, green advertising, green attitude, perceived behavioural control, subjective norms, cosmetics industry, PLS-SEM, consumer behaviour, greenwashing, emerging markets