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The purpose of this paper is to synthesize insights from the emerging work in accounting on greenwashing and sustainability assurance and propose an agenda for future research in this area.

This article offers an original analysis of papers published on greenwashing and sustainability assurance research in the field of accounting. It adopts a systematic literature review and a narrative approach to analyse the dominant themes and key findings in this new and rapidly evolving field. From this overview, specific avenues for future research are identified.

In the past few years there has been a substantial spike in concern relating to greenwashing among academics, practitioners, regulators and society. This growing concern has only partly been reflected in the research literature. To date, research has primarily focused on: (1) the characteristics of firms adopting sustainability assurance, (2) the challenges facing sustainability auditors, (3) the development of appropriate assurance standards and regulations, and (4) capital market responses to greenwashing and sustainability auditing/assurance. Three key future research issues with respect to greenwashing are identified: (1) the future of standard-setter attempts to regulate greenwashing, (2) professional jockeying in sustainability reporting assurance, and (3) capital market opportunities and challenges relating to greenwashing and assurance.

Despite the profound economic and reputational impact of greenwashing and the rapid development of sustainability assurance services, research in accounting remains fragmented and emergent. This review identifies avenues offering considerable scope for inter-disciplinarity and bridging the divide between academia and practice.

There is emerging evidence in the accounting literature that investors react negatively to corporate greenwashing. But does that hold for all investors, or do different types of investors react differently? This paper aims to study retail investors’ responses to media reports on corporate greenwashing and how these responses depend upon the investors’ social value orientation. The authors argue that media reporting on corporate greenwashing negatively affects the rationale for allocating funds to firms engaging in greenwashing. The authors also expect this reaction to be stronger for prosocial investors compared to proself investors.

The authors conduct an online experiment with 229 participants representing retail investors in the German-speaking countries.

The results show that retail investors who received media reports on deceptive disclosure invest more funds in the company that does not engage in greenwashing (and less in the firm that engages in greenwashing) than investors who did not receive these reports. The authors’ results provide novel evidence that this effect primarily holds for investors with a prosocial value orientation. Finally, the authors’ data show that lower trust in the firm that engages in greenwashing partially mediates the effect of media reports on investor choices.

The authors provide unique evidence how different types of investors react to media reports on greenwashing. The authors find that moral motives, rather than risk-return considerations, drive investor responses to greenwashing. Overall, these findings support the important function of the media as an intermediary in stock market participation and highlight the pivotal role of individual traits in investors’ responses to greenwashing.

When a company practices greenwashing, it violates consumers' expectations by deliberately deceiving them about their environmental practices or the benefits of their products/services. This study investigated the effects of greenwashing on corporate reputation and brand hate. Furthermore, this study explored the mediating effects of perceived environmental performance and green perceived risk.

A survey design using cross-sectional primary data from 420 Portuguese consumers who identified and recognized brands engaged in greenwashing was employed. The proposed hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling techniques.

This study's findings show that consumer perceptions of greenwashing may damage brands. The results show that greenwashing has a negative effect on corporate reputation through perceived environmental performance and green perceived risk. Additionally, greenwashing has a positive direct effect on brand hate and a negative effect on green perceived risk. Therefore, reducing greenwashing practices can improve consumers' perceptions of corporate environmental performance, buffer green perceived risk, and ultimately enhance corporate reputation. This can lead to positive relationships with customers.

Based on signaling and expectancy violation theories, this study develops a new framework highlighting the detrimental effects of greenwashing on brands. The combination of these theories provides the right framework to understand how greenwashing may lead to extreme feelings like brand hate and negative perceptions of corporate reputation, thus advancing the current research that lacks studies on the association between these constructs.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence that the occurrence of greenwashing has on the consumer perception of corporate social responsibility (CSR).

This paper observed the market indication that a consistent undermining of authentic commitment to CSR taints consumer perception. Investigating how the motivations behind greenwashing contribute to the presentation of CSR was the first means of examining the market forces. Consumer orientation was used as a guiding principle to consider the short- and long-term perspective of a greenwasher.

Individual instances of greenwashing contribute to a collective deterioration of marketplace trust in the promises of CSR. The negative influence on CSR is not isolated to the greenwashing perpetrator but casts a wider effect. The consequences of greenwashing are not isolated but widely dispersed.

Whilst much of the literature focuses on the stigmatisation of individual firms, it is crucial to note how marketplace trust is eroded. In addition, the perception of CSR-related regulations is for example influenced but rarely recognised as a consequence of greenwashing behaviour.

Drawing upon social exchange theory, this research investigates the interplay of corporate philanthropy, environmental marketing strategy, relationship quality, greenwashing, and customer citizenship behavior in the family-owned hotels of an emerging market.

A field survey questionnaire was used to gather the data from 394 hotel customers by randomly selecting three premium family-owned hotels in Lahore: Faletti’s, Avari, and Holiday Inn. The data was analyzed using the structural regression modeling (SRM) technique with the assistance of AMOS version 24.

The results show that corporate philanthropy and environmental marketing strategy positively influence relationship quality, and relationship quality positively influences customer citizenship behavior. Relationship quality partially mediates the association between corporate philanthropy and customer citizenship behavior, but we found that greenwashing does not have a moderating role.

This research has theoretical implications for marketing scholars and practical implications of family-owned hotels in emerging markets.

The study has contributed contextually by collecting a unique dataset from family-owned hotels in an emerging market. Theoretically, we have conceptualized a model through the Social Exchange Theory by recommending relationship quality as a mediator and greenwashing as a moderator.

This paper aims to synthesize the corporate social responsibility decoupling (CSRD) literature, CSRD's causes and consequences and discuss other organizational attributes examined by CSRD scholars during 2010 and 2020. The authors provide suggestions for a future research agenda in this domain.

The authors' systematic literature review (SLR) uses the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) framework to extract CSRD studies. The authors filter collected articles against quality and relevancy criteria and finally review 175 published articles.

A theme analysis identifies and structures the many themes related to CSRD. The authors discuss the drivers of CSRD and reveal the consequences companies face after CSRD. The authors also provide a comprehensive CSRD discussion in the context of developed and developing economies. CSR communication is also identified as a tool for decoupling and recoupling.

The identified themes provide a thorough illustration of CSRD literature for new CSRD scholars. The authors also provide suggestions for future research, such as examining country-level policy-making and implications of CSRD variance and identifying cultural and economic hurdles to achieving core CSR purposes.

Policymakers and scholars may adopt the approach that CSRD is a misreporting of information similar to accounting fraud. This is particularly relevant given that an increasing number of CSRD scandals indicate that the purpose of bringing change through corporate CSR has not been adopted well by corporations.

The authors' study offers a comprehensive literature review for the period of 2010–2020. The studies identified are structured into meaningful themes which can provide groundwork for future researchers.

The surging market demand for green construction materials has brought opportunities for construction materials enterprises' greenwashing behavior (GWB). This study aims to establish the causal relationship among the influencing factors of GWB and reveal the key influencing factors from the perspective of Chinese construction materials enterprises under multi-agent interactions.

This study is based on stakeholder theory, resource-based theory and the green development behavior and performance of industrial enterprises (GDBP-IE). First, with the literature analysis, an index framework of the influencing factors of enterprises' GWB was constructed from five dimensions (including 15 factors): environmental regulation, public scrutiny, market environment, corporate resources and corporate green development (GD) performance. Second, the interactive relationship among influencing factors was obtained by a questionnaire survey. Finally, the data are processed and analyzed with the grey-DEMATEL (Decision-making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory) method.

Among the factors, corporate information transparency has the greatest impact on the other factors, and consumer green preferences are most influenced by others. The most critical and important factor is the corporate social performance factor. In China, corporate social performance, corporate information transparency, corporate size and media supervision are the key factors influencing the GWB of construction materials enterprises.

This study provides a new perspective on the literature related to GWB by considering multi-agent interactions and extends the evidence from the construction materials industry for research on the drivers or influencing factors of enterprises' bad environmental behavior. Furthermore, it adds insights from China for further research on the governance strategies of GWB in other countries.

The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework that explores the determinants, mechanisms and consequences of reporting on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) by universities. The framework considers the relationship between reporting on the SDGs and the three main activities of universities: research, teaching and service. As universities hold a unique position in society, understanding their experiences with SDG reporting offers insights into the promotion and integration of SDGs into reporting and practice more broadly.

The paper adopts a conceptual approach and draws on existing literature to develop a framework for understanding reporting on the UN SDGs by universities. The framework considers the challenges faced by universities in providing sustainability information and examines the motivations and outcomes associated with reporting. It also explores the coordination and collaboration necessary across departments within universities and discusses the risks associated with greenwashing.

The paper highlights that reporting on the UN SDGs can enhance university engagement with stakeholders, improve their reputation, and foster innovation and transdisciplinary research ideas. However, universities encounter challenges such as limited data availability, resource constraints, lack of coordination and competing priorities. The growing scepticism surrounding reporting motives has led to increased allegations of greenwashing within the sector.

This paper contributes to the accounting literature by presenting a comprehensive framework that explores the determinants, mechanisms and consequences of reporting on the UN SDGs by universities. The framework offers insights into how reporting on SDGs can lead to embedding the SDGs in research, teaching and service activities and can be adapted to other organisational contexts. The paper also emphasises the need for further research on the mechanisms of reporting, which play a crucial role in driving long-lasting change.

This paper aims to examine the Canadian financial sector’s reaction to opportunities and risks created by the green bond market in a low-carbon and climate-resilient (LCR) economy.

The authors used a concurrent mixed methodological approach that undertakes an online survey and semistructured interviews with critical green bond market stakeholders.

The most significant market driver in Canada is the reputational benefit for stakeholders, i.e. its ability to meet the high demand for sustainable finance and the marketing potential of its green credentials. The major market barriers are transactional costs, i.e. additional tracking required for reporting purposes, lack of market liquidity and identification of environmental impact or additionality. Canadian green bonds are also more likely to be evaluated on their green impact than their global market peers.

Limitations of this study include its focus on Canada, which may exclude or not apply to drivers and barriers in other green bond markets.

The paper helps create an accounting-based conceptual framework for key motivations and barriers that affect financial decision-making regarding green bonds.

The authors identify economic and policy-related barriers and drivers for green bonds, addressing the financing gap for the LCR economy.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to identify and compare Canadian green bond market drivers and barriers and to examine relevant stakeholder- and policy-related approaches that can be targeted to scale this market effectively.

This paper aims to answer the questions of what clothing practices related to sustainable fashion can be observed in young consumers' daily lives in Finland’s capital region and what prevents their further proliferation.

This is qualitative research that draws from 22 semi-structured interviews with high school students in the capital area of Finland. The data were analyzed with the use of thematic analysis, a flexible method of data analysis that allows for the extraction of categories from both theoretical concepts and data.

This paper contributes to studies of young people’s consumption with the practice theory approach, putting forward the category of following sustainable fashion as an integrative practice. The three-element model of the practice theory allows answering the question of challenges that prevent the practice from shaping. The paper further advances this approach by identifying a list of context-specific dispersed practices incorporated into sustainable fashion.

The study suggests practical ways of improving clothing consumption based on the practice theory approach and findings from empirical research. Sustainable practices require competences, knowledge and skills that the school, as an institution working closely with high school students, could help develop.

The study contributes to the current studies of sustainability and youth culture of consumption with a practice theory approach and findings, related to a particular context of a country from Northern Europe.