Imam Hadiwibowo, Abdul Ghofar, Erwin Saraswati, Mohamad Khoiru Rusydi
Greenwashing has emerged as a critical challenge in corporate sustainability because misleading environmental claims can erode stakeholder trust, weaken reporting credibility, and undermine accountability in sustainable development. Although the greenwashing literature has expanded rapidly, existing reviews remain fragmented and provide limited evidence on the field’s intellectual structure, thematic evolution, and emerging directions, particularly within the business and economics domain. To address this gap, this study conducts a bibliometric analysis of 357 Scopus-indexed documents published between 2005 and 2025. Using co-word network analysis, thematic mapping, and thematic evolution analysis, the study identifies the main conceptual clusters, influential publication sources, and temporal shifts in research priorities. The findings indicate that the field has reached a more mature stage, with only 8 core journals forming Bradford Zone 1. Research output is also geographically concentrated, led by China (47 documents; 13.2%), followed by the United States (43; 12%) and the United Kingdom (23; 6.4%). In addition, the Journal of Cleaner Production emerges as the most influential source, with 1,707 citations across 30 papers. Thematic evolution shows a shift from early debates on symbolic environmental communication toward governance-oriented concerns, particularly sustainability reporting, climate accountability, and policy-based anti-greenwashing mechanisms. These findings strengthen the theoretical understanding of how greenwashing research has developed over time and provide practical guidance for managers and policymakers in improving credible sustainability disclosure and designing more effective regulatory responses. © 2026 The authors. This article is published by IIETA and is licensed under the CC BY 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Department of Accounting, Universitas Brawijaya, Malang, 65145, Indonesia
