The Influence of Blockchain Technology on Swedish Consumers’ Purchase Intention of Eco-Friendly Clothing Products : A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract: Consumers are increasingly becoming more sustainable and strive towards making sustainable actions and purchases. As a response, companies attempt to follow this trend by offering sustainable and eco-friendly products and services, however, this has increased the tendency of greenwashing techniques. Blockchain technology (BCT), a system that can provide transparent, traceable,and trustworthy information, can thus be the solution for this dilemma in order to decrease the risk of greenwashing. Hence, consumers can feel a lack of trust towards current products that are considered to be eco-friendly, while these actually could be non-eco-friendly, and consumers’ willingness to pay a higher price can be diminished - which is a problem that BCT potentially addresses. The purpose of this present study is to understand and assess the role of blockchain technology (BCT) towards Swedish consumers’ intention of purchasing clothing products that are considered to be eco-friendly.  In order to answer this purpose, Swedish consumers’ attitudes towards BCT are measured empirically in terms of a quantitative study, where a questionnaire was conducted and received a total of 71 respondents. The results highlight that, in the context of clothing product purchases, Swedish consumers currently are not purchasing eco-friendly clothing products and they do not strive to purchase these to a high extent. However, if BCT would be available before the consumer purchases the clothing product, results emphasize that consumers would be more prone to purchase eco-friendly products. Additionally, results reveal that consumers would feel a high level of trust towards clothing companies and their products if BCT would be available prior to purchase. Ultimately, it was uncovered that consumers are willing to pay a higher price for eco-friendly clothing products if BCT is available. This study thus provides insights about the advantages of utilizing BCT within the business, which is applicable to particularly clothing companies but also other companies in general.