IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ers/journl/vxxivy2021i4-part2p914-922.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Concept, Developments, and Consequences of Greenwashing

Author

Listed:
  • Grzegorz Zych
  • Borys Budka
  • Marzena Czarnecka
  • Grzegorz Kinelski
  • Magdalena Wojcik-Jurkiewicz

Abstract

Purpose: This paper aims to identify the problems arising from the relationship between greenwashing and the ambitious climate targets set by both Member States and the European Community as a whole. It is indisputable that climate change and its consequences need a firm response from states. Design/Methodology/Approach: The authors use a literature review methodology consisting of a bibliographic analysis and an analysis of legal acts. The scientific argument concerns the study of the legal regulations' weaknesses based on a case study in the form of cases negotiated in international fora. The main objective of this research method was to identify the circumstances of legislative failure. Findings: The identification of problems and their analysis can assist regulators in updating their legislative processes and also open up a wider discussion on implementation problems for pro-climate solutions. Practical implications: The practical implications of this article are enormous. First, it should be noted that law has not always kept pace with economical solutions, and in this particular case, there is no opportunity for clear legal rules that allow to surpass issues such as greenwashing. Originality/Value: The relationship between greenwashing, its qualified forms, and the implementation of legal solutions in the field of climate policy has not yet been the subject of extensive academic or economic-legal discussion.

Suggested Citation

  • Grzegorz Zych & Borys Budka & Marzena Czarnecka & Grzegorz Kinelski & Magdalena Wojcik-Jurkiewicz, 2021. "Concept, Developments, and Consequences of Greenwashing," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(4 - Part ), pages 914-922.
    • Handle: RePEc:ers:journl:v:xxiv:y:2021:i:4-part2:p:914-922
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ersj.eu/journal/2779/download
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kent Walker & Fang Wan, 2012. "The Harm of Symbolic Actions and Green-Washing: Corporate Actions and Communications on Environmental Performance and Their Financial Implications," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 109(2), pages 227-242, August.
    2. Allan Sylvester & Mary Tate & David Johnstone, 2013. "Beyond synthesis: re-presenting heterogeneous research literature," Behaviour and Information Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(12), pages 1199-1215, December.
    3. Eun-Hee Kim & Thomas P. Lyon, 2015. "Greenwash vs. Brownwash: Exaggeration and Undue Modesty in Corporate Sustainability Disclosure," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(3), pages 705-723, June.
    4. Yu-Shan Chen & Ching-Hsun Chang, 2013. "Greenwash and Green Trust: The Mediation Effects of Green Consumer Confusion and Green Perceived Risk," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 114(3), pages 489-500, May.
    5. Wojciech Drożdż & Grzegorz Kinelski & Marzena Czarnecka & Magdalena Wójcik-Jurkiewicz & Anna Maroušková & Grzegorz Zych, 2021. "Determinants of Decarbonization—How to Realize Sustainable and Low Carbon Cities?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-19, May.
    6. Thomas P. Lyon & John W. Maxwell, 2011. "Greenwash: Corporate Environmental Disclosure under Threat of Audit," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(1), pages 3-41, March.
    7. Krzysztof Zamasz & Radosław Kapłan & Przemysław Kaszyński & Piotr W. Saługa, 2020. "An Analysis of Support Mechanisms for New CHPs: The Case of Poland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-18, October.
    8. Xingqiang Du, 2015. "How the Market Values Greenwashing? Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 128(3), pages 547-574, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. repec:ers:journl:v:xxiv:y:2021:i:4b:p:914-922 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Wei Li & Weining Li & Veikko Seppänen & Timo Koivumäki, 2022. "How and when does perceived greenwashing affect employees' job performance? Evidence from China," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(5), pages 1722-1735, September.
    3. Wei Li & Weining Li & Veikko Seppänen & Timo Koivumäki, 2023. "Effects of greenwashing on financial performance: Moderation through local environmental regulation and media coverage," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 820-841, January.
    4. Birindelli, Giuliana & Chiappini, Helen & Jalal, Raja Nabeel-Ud-Din, 2024. "Greenwashing, bank financial performance and the moderating role of gender diversity," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    5. Torelli, Riccardo & Balluchi, Federica & Lazzini, Arianna, 2019. "Greenwashing and Environmental Communication: Effects on Stakeholders’ Perceptions," OSF Preprints 97vxn, Center for Open Science.
    6. Marta Pizzetti & Lucia Gatti & Peter Seele, 2021. "Firms Talk, Suppliers Walk: Analyzing the Locus of Greenwashing in the Blame Game and Introducing ‘Vicarious Greenwashing’," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 170(1), pages 21-38, April.
    7. Torelli, Riccardo & Balluchi, Federica & Lazzini, Arianna, 2019. "Greenwashing and Environmental Communication: Effects on Stakeholders’ Perceptions," OSF Preprints 97vxn_v1, Center for Open Science.
    8. Jennifer L. Robertson & A. Wren Montgomery & Timur Ozbilir, 2023. "Employees' response to corporate greenwashing," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(7), pages 4015-4027, November.
    9. Kaijun Gan & Silin Ye, 2024. "Window Dressing in Impression Management: Does Negative Media Coverage Drive Corporate Green Production?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-22, January.
    10. Honglei Mu & Youngchan Lee, 2023. "Greenwashing in Corporate Social Responsibility: A Dual-Faceted Analysis of Its Impact on Employee Trust and Identification," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-17, November.
    11. Gregor Dorfleitner & Sebastian Utz, 2024. "Green, green, it’s green they say: a conceptual framework for measuring greenwashing on firm level," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 18(12), pages 3463-3486, December.
    12. Carlos Ignacio Gallo Aguila & María del Pilar Castro Arellano & Marco Antonio Rodríguez Vega & Eliana Maritza Barturen Mondragón & María del Pilar Quezada Castro & Guillermo Alexander Quezada Cast, 2024. "Trends in Scientific Production on Greenwashing based on Scopus (1990-2023)," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 14(4), pages 464-471, July.
    13. Divinus Oppong-Tawiah & Jane Webster, 2023. "Corporate Sustainability Communication as ‘Fake News’: Firms’ Greenwashing on Twitter," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-26, April.
    14. Francesca Bernini & Fabio La Rosa, 2024. "Research in the greenwashing field: concepts, theories, and potential impacts on economic and social value," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 28(2), pages 405-444, June.
    15. Wei Wang & Dechao Ma & Fengzhi Wu & Mengxin Sun & Shuangqing Xu & Qiuyue Hua & Ziyuan Sun, 2023. "Exploring the Knowledge Structure and Hotspot Evolution of Greenwashing: A Visual Analysis Based on Bibliometrics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-35, January.
    16. Silvia Ruiz-Blanco & Silvia Romero & Belen Fernandez-Feijoo, 2022. "Green, blue or black, but washing–What company characteristics determine greenwashing?," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 4024-4045, March.
    17. Tingfa Zhang & Huaying Qin & Weishuang Xu, 2022. "Environmental Regulation, Greenwashing Behaviour, and Green Governance of High-Pollution Enterprises in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-22, October.
    18. Lucia Gatti & Peter Seele & Lars Rademacher, 2019. "Grey zone in – greenwash out. A review of greenwashing research and implications for the voluntary-mandatory transition of CSR," International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 1-15, December.
    19. Gatti, Lucia & Pizzetti, Marta & Seele, Peter, 2021. "Green lies and their effect on intention to invest," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 228-240.
    20. Patrick Velte, 2023. "Determinants and consequences of corporate social responsibility decoupling—Status quo and limitations of recent empirical quantitative research," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(6), pages 2695-2717, November.
    21. Francesco Testa & Ivan Miroshnychenko & Roberto Barontini & Marco Frey, 2018. "Does it pay to be a greenwasher or a brownwasher?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(7), pages 1104-1116, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Greenwashing; external actors; “cascading greenwashing”; climate policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F62 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Macroeconomic Impacts
    • K33 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - International Law
    • M21 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Economics - - - Business Economics

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ers:journl:v:xxiv:y:2021:i:4-part2:p:914-922. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Marios Agiomavritis (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://ersj.eu/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.