Internal ESG Greenwashing and Employee Well-Being: The Roles of Procedural Justice, Trust and Belonging in Greece and the United Kingdom

Yfantidou, I ORCID: 0000-0003-3200-2185 and Balaskas, S (2026) Internal ESG Greenwashing and Employee Well-Being: The Roles of Procedural Justice, Trust and Belonging in Greece and the United Kingdom. Corporate Communications: an International Journal. pp. 1-26. ISSN 1356-3289

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Abstract

Purpose – This study examines how employees’ perceptions of internal environmental, social and governance ESG greenwashing, procedural justice, trait cynicism and ESG importance relate to organizational trust, belonging and employee work well-being in Greece and the United Kingdom. Design/methodology/approach – Cross-sectional survey data from 837 employees were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling, bootstrapping, specific indirect-effect analysis and multi-group comparison. Findings – Belonging showed the strongest direct association with employee work well-being in the pooled model. Perceived internal ESG greenwashing and procedural justice were also related to well-being, while indirect relationships through trust and belonging differed between the pooled and country-specific models. The multi-group analysis indicated that selected relationships involving greenwashing, trust, belonging and procedural justice varied between Greece and the United Kingdom. Research limitations/implications – The cross-sectional, self-report design does not establish causal ordering. Future research should employ longitudinal, experimental and organization-embedded designs and extend the comparison to additional institutional contexts. Practical implications – Organizations should align internal ESG communication with observable practice, apply fair and transparent ESG decision procedures, and support the relational conditions associated with organizational trust and belonging. Originality/value – The study reframes internal ESG communication as an employee-facing governance issue rather than solely an external reporting practice. It integrates perceived greenwashing and procedural justice with two distinct relational mechanisms, organizational trust and belonging, and examines their associations with employee work well-being across two institutionally differentiated European contexts.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	15 Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services; 20 Language, Communication and Culture; Business & Management; 35 Commerce, management, tourism and services; 47 Language, communication and culture
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HF Commerce > HF5001 Business
Divisions:	Liverpool Business School
Publisher:	Emerald
Date of acceptance:	31 August 2026
Date Deposited:	09 Sep 2026 09:18
Last Modified:	15 Oct 2026 12:53
DOI or ID number:	10.1108/CCIJ-12-2025-0405
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/29338

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