Greenwashing in Airline Marketing
Tokola, Anni (2023)
2023
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2023053116757
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2023053116757
Tiivistelmä
The global climate crisis is forcing companies to change the ways they do business. Consumers and stakeholders are increasingly more interested in corporate social responsibility, especially environmental sustainability. Unfortunately, this also drives companies to make false green claims, in order to gain market share and to appeal to customers, this phenomenon is known as greenwashing.
With the European Union proposing a new Green Claims Directive and the increasing demand for sustainability in the tourism industry, the issue of greenwashing is very topical. The aim of this research was to find out does greenwashing occur in the social media marketing of airlines, and to gain more understanding about the nature of greenwashing in airline marketing.
The airlines that were researched are KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Qatar Airways. The qualitative research was conducted by using reflexive thematic analysis to search for greenwashing in the Instagram posts of the airlines. The data sample includes 383 posts by Qatar Airways and 159 posts by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. Altogether, 542 posts were collected. In addition to this, also archived Instagram stories were analysed.
The data was analysed by coding, a process, where after thorough inspection labels are attached to different data meanings and collated with supporting data excerpts. The codes are then grouped further to develop themes. Four large themes and three sub-themes emerged.
Four major themes were identified in the social media posts of the airlines. Those were core business operations, misdirection, greenwashing and special days. Within the greenwashing theme, three sub-themes emerged: green innovation, green claims and shifting the blame. The results answer the research questions as we can determine that greenwashing does occur in the social media marketing of airlines. In addition, three types of greenwashing were identified: green claims, green innovation and shifting the blame.
With the European Union proposing a new Green Claims Directive and the increasing demand for sustainability in the tourism industry, the issue of greenwashing is very topical. The aim of this research was to find out does greenwashing occur in the social media marketing of airlines, and to gain more understanding about the nature of greenwashing in airline marketing.
The airlines that were researched are KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Qatar Airways. The qualitative research was conducted by using reflexive thematic analysis to search for greenwashing in the Instagram posts of the airlines. The data sample includes 383 posts by Qatar Airways and 159 posts by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. Altogether, 542 posts were collected. In addition to this, also archived Instagram stories were analysed.
The data was analysed by coding, a process, where after thorough inspection labels are attached to different data meanings and collated with supporting data excerpts. The codes are then grouped further to develop themes. Four large themes and three sub-themes emerged.
Four major themes were identified in the social media posts of the airlines. Those were core business operations, misdirection, greenwashing and special days. Within the greenwashing theme, three sub-themes emerged: green innovation, green claims and shifting the blame. The results answer the research questions as we can determine that greenwashing does occur in the social media marketing of airlines. In addition, three types of greenwashing were identified: green claims, green innovation and shifting the blame.