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The chapter describes the research objectives and different steps of the systematic literature review of existing studies on greenwashing. Both academics and practitioners may find this literature review useful, as it identifies the key features of the greenwashing research in a wide range of disciplines (management, marketing, accounting, corporate communication, etc.). The systematic literature review sheds light on the greenwashing types (and research gaps) in which the phenomenon takes shape. Time horizon (1990–mid 2021), keywords selection for queries on academic search engines, data collection, filtering criteria, etc., are explained and discussed in detail before presenting the main results in terms of frequency of publications over years, leading outlets in greenwashing research, trending articles, levels of analysis, geographical affiliation of first authors, theoretical approaches and methods used in this field of research. The chapter concludes by summarising the main types of greenwashing and possible avenues of research.

The purpose of this study is to suggest an approach to regain consumer trust after negative effects of greenwashing that draws corporations and consumers into a conflicted relationship.

The authors collect and interpret qualitative data from in-depth interviews to develop a theoretical approach that enables the rebuilding of trust between greenwashing corporations and their consumers using the concept of psychological resilience.

This analysis indicates that the approach is an interaction between consumers with green brand loyalty and greenwashing corporations. This type of consumer demands emotional factors, functional factors and legitimate factors in the process of psychological resilience, and after greenwashing, corporations should select appropriate recovery strategies to stimulate these protective factors.

Previous research studied green consumer trust in the marketing field but did not explore the core of trust which was regarded as a cognitive process. This paper investigates green consumer behaviour under the perspective of psychological resilience and makes an innovative attempt to understand drivers of regaining consumer trust. Previous research works put forward a series of strategies related to regaining trust, but they did not discuss the mechanisms by which these strategies work. Using the method of grounded theory, we attempt to reveal the “black box” of consumers cognition after greenwashing and propose a strategy for regaining consumer trust.

The chapter explores how different theoretical traditions address the gaps between talk (symbolic communication practices) and actions (substantive performance) in organisations. The chapter details the main theoretical approaches in greenwashing research, namely legitimacy theory, attribution theory, institutional theory, signaling theory, impression management approaches and constructivist approaches. Among these latter, Communicative Constitution of Organizations (CCO) challenges the dominant view in literature and suggests abandoning the traditional dichotomy of talk versus action. The different approaches to studying greenwashing are presented along with main questions and research methods used in each field and sub-field of study. For each theoretical approach the main research trends and novel research questions are proposed. Researchers, doctoral and post-graduate students may appreciate this as standalone contribution to guide their future studies in this area, by designing their research avenues based on the best practices in the field.

The chapter aims to bridge theory-practice by proposing an in-depth examination of three cases of companies accused of greenwashing, namely Volkswagen for Dieselgate, Nestlè and Golden Agri-Resources (a palm oil plantation company included in DJSI). The chapter thus reflects on deliberate communicative practices and organisational processes that lie beyond the most visible manifestations of greenwashing. Drawing on these cases, common communication errors and practices of corporate misconduct in corporate sustainability are disclosed. Readers, such as practitioners, who are not interested in academic mechanisms and more in the practical effects of the phenomenon can appreciate the analysis of the cases linked with the presentation of a series of principles and guidelines. Managerial solutions to contrast the different types of greenwashing risks, and to reduce associated negative effects on corporate image and reputation, are presented.

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.

This final chapter moves from a firm-level perspective to a more general level to connect individual organisational decisions on corporate sustainability to current and future societal and environmental challenges. The chapter starts by illustrating greenhushing, seen as a deceptive strategic silence that occurs when companies voluntarily decrease their communication on sustainability issues. The emergence of novel forms of greenwashing stresses the need to integrate the principles of sustainability in their corporate strategies in an authentic way, and to activate a virtuous circuit of sustainability sensegiving-sensemaking, in which the company can recognise the contribution of stakeholders in decision-making. The discussion then addresses some unresolved tensions in sustainability communication approaches that cause ‘deep-rooted’ greenwashing, thus paving the way for a systemic approach to the phenomenon. The chapter thus presents some speculative sketches that illustrate the social, organisational and environmental costs and benefits of an authentic approach to corporate sustainability. The discussion emphasises the need to establish a shared sustainability culture at different systems' levels and within organisations to avoid environmental and social damaging practices and widen corporate objectives to initiate long-lasting changes. Policy and decision-makers may appreciate this effort to identify responsibilities for each component and priority areas for action.

This paper aims to see how scholarly research on Greenwashing practices and behaviour has progressed in the 21st century. There has been a lot of empirical, exploratory and conceptual work done on Green marketing, sustainable marketing and environmental marketing. However, there have been few attempts to produce a comprehensive scientific mapping of Greenwashing as a niche topic. As a result, the study’s goal is to elicit research trends through knowledge structure synthesis.

A Bibliometric Analysis on the topic of Greenwashing practices was undertaken on 355 publications. For this, a scientific search strategy was run on the Scopus database for the period 1996–2021. The study was conducted using Biblioshiny, a Web-based application that is part of the Bibliometric package. Important journals, countries, authors, keywords and affiliations were found using the software’s automated workflow and thematic evolution, citations, co-citations and social network analysis were performed.

The study indicated a gradual increase in the research related to Greenwashing practices. The findings show a relative concentration of more influential work in the said domain amongst a handful of research scholars. Many influential studies have occurred after 2007, and a rally is seen in the studies on Greenwashing till 2020. The authors can say that the rigour of research has started increasing since then. Geographic dispersion of the work has shown that the USA followed by the UK dominates the scholarly inquiry and these countries have major collaboration with European and Asian researchers. The 10 most productive countries were examined, and it was discovered that the USA contributed the majority of the publications, with the UK and China coming in second and third place, respectively, in terms of publication in the said sector. In addition to the domain’s conceptual structure, the study exposes the domain’s social and Intellectual structure. This brings up new possibilities for Greenwashing studies in the future.

The present research is a Bibliometric analysis that is restricted to science mapping, and hence, limitations apply to the said studies. Researchers can use systematic literature review to build a robust conceptual foundation in the future. The Scopus database was used for this study because it has a greater number of high-quality journals in structured forms that are compatible with Bibliometrix software.

Greenwashing practices and behaviour, as well as their links to sustainability, are discussed in this paper. It highlights the most often stated challenges in the discipline and suggests possible research topics. It provides future scholars with information on this discipline’s issues, contexts and collaboration opportunities.

The current study can give further directions to the researchers for conducting rigorous research on Greenwashing behaviour and practices and will guide the policymakers to formulate policies in the field of non-sustainable activities, with Greenwashing being one of them.

A lot of work is done by the scientific community in Green marketing research, and a lot of literature is available on Green and Sustainable marketing practices. However, there is still a need felt for more extensive and rigorous research on the evolution of Greenwashing methods. This study makes a significant addition in that it brings together the scattered literature in the field, focuses on important sources, authors and documents, and investigates Greenwashing techniques and behaviour, which is the other side of the sustainable practices coin.

The chapter begins the analysis by showing how the wider concept of ethical behaviour in organisations can be considered as the starting point to interpret the rise of environmental concerns in business operations as well as of greenwashing, primarily seen as a form of business misconduct. The focus on corporate environmentalism, intended as the deliberate process by which companies assimilate environmental concerns into their decision-making, provides the proper background to examine the birth of the concept of greenwashing. The discussion about ever-growing ethical issues, such as the conflict between private gain and public good, the tension between moral principles and profits, intertwines with the discourse on corporate sustainability and corporate social responsibility. Specifically, a distinction is made between mandatory and voluntary CSR disclosures, with the aim of elucidating further reasons behind greenwashing temptations. Lastly, the chapter concludes with the discussion of deceptive communication activities of companies that are described as different forms of identity-washing.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship among greenwashing, green brand equity, brand credibility, green brand associations and purchase intention.

As an object to study, two brands were chosen: a high-involved brand and a low-involved brand. Data were collected from 500 consumers by survey method, and structural equation modeling was run to test the research hypotheses.

As a result, it was found that green brand associations and brand credibility positively affect green brand equity, and green brand equity has a positive and strong impact on purchase intention of consumers. In addition to that greenwashing negatively affects green brand associations and brand credibility, and therefore, indirectly influence green brand equity and purchase intention.

Previous studies conceptualize greenwashing and examine its effects on company performance and skepticism. This study is a first attempt to explore the effects of greenwashing on green branding strategies.

Managers should be aware of that greenwashing not only negatively affects purchase intention but also generates negative outcomes for the relationship with the brands.

There is no other study, at least to the author’s knowledge, testing the effects of greenwashing on green brand perceptions and green purchase intention.