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Introduction
With environmental problems becoming increasingly severe, low-carbon development has become an inevitable choice. Energy conservation, emission reduction, and low-carbon development are vital to promoting sustainable development worldwide (e.g., Abakah et al., 2023; Shang et al., 2023; Tian et al., 2023). The growing environmental awareness is prompting consumers to shift towards green lifestyles, a transition crucial for moving economies and societies towards sustainable development (Zhang & Zheng, 2023). Simultaneously, with the surge in consumer demand, many companies are adopting green marketing strategies to gain a competitive advantage and attract eco-conscious consumers (Rossolini et al., 2021). Thus, green marketing has become an important means for companies to secure a competitive edge (Zhang et al., 2018; Szerena & Webster, 2021). However, the marketing success of green products has also led to the emergence of greenwashing (Yang et al., 2020), and the interest in greenwashing has grown in recent decades (Santos et al., 2023).
The increased interest in corporate green practices (Miroshnychenko et al., 2017) and heightened competition in the global marketplace have prompted companies to disclose more information about their environmental contributions. In these disclosures, some firms tend to exaggerate or underestimate their environmental commitments, and these green marketing strategies, decoupled from substantive actions, are referred to as greenwashing (Testa et al., 2018). Moreover, from a financial perspective, green finance, as one of the themes of sustainable finance research (Agha et al., 2024; Tiwari, 2022), plays a crucial role in promoting green, low-carbon development and achieving carbon neutrality (Kumar et al., 2022; Zheng et al., 2023). While some scholars believe that the development of green finance can be achieved by mitigating corporate responses to greenwashing, others argue that green financial instruments may face criticism for corporate misappropriation of green funds for greenwashing (Zhang, 2023; Zheng et al., 2023). This special issue invites multi-directional discussions.
In the context of uncertainty (Qureshi et al. 2023), greenwashing is a double-edged sword, presenting both opportunities and risks. Risks associated with greenwashing include reputational risks, legal risks, competitive risks, investment risks, and more. However, the exaggerated publicity may also create market opportunities, attract investors, open doors to transformation opportunities, and garner policy support and cooperation through a green image. This special issue encourages innovative and multi-faceted explorations of greenwashing topics.
This special issue provides reference directions from a management and finance perspective. For the first set: i) Recognizing and avoiding greenwashing in corporate strategy. ii) Differentiating between a genuine environmental strategy and greenwashing. iii) Emphasizing the importance of rewards and incentives to promote authentic green practices. For the second set: i) Exploring how greenwashing affects a firm's stock valuation and market performance. ii) Assessing the potential impact of greenwashing on a firm's financial reporting. iii) Analyzing how greenwashing influences a firm's fundraising costs and return on investment.
Finally, from an external institutional perspective: i) Examining the role of ESG ratings and audits in revealing or masking greenwashing practices. ii) Exploring how greenwashing affects financial institutions' risk assessment and claims processes, such as the insurance industry. iii) Assessing the role of financial institutions in combating greenwashing. In addition, internal and external characteristics can be examined, and this analysis is acceptable from either a macro or micro perspective.
Papers considered for the Special Issue must address the challenges or opportunities of greenwashing by adopting a financial and/or managerial perspective. Upon reviewing the literature, it becomes evident that most existing studies on greenwashing adopt a cross-sectional approach. For instance, Testa et al. (2018) explored the impact of various environmental communication strategies on firm value and operational performance across multiple countries and industries. Therefore, this special issue welcomes purely theoretical papers and invites diverse methodological approaches, such as mixed-methods, longitudinal, and comparative studies.
List of Topic Areas
The Guest Editors invite conceptual, methodological, and empirical contributions addressing themes within the international business landscape, including but not limited to the following:
- ESG Investments and greenwashing
- The role of big data in greenwashing
- Green finance
- Green intellectual capital
- Responses of multinational companies to national greenwashing regulations and standards
- Greenwashing and insurance underwriting and claims
- Financial advisors and green investment portfolios
- ESG ratings and audits
- Corporate social irresponsibility
- Greenwashing in crowdfunding campaigns
- Irresponsibility attributions and reputation
Submissions Information
Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Registration and access are available here.
Author guidelines must be strictly followed. Please see here.
Authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue title at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to ““Please select the issue you are submitting to”.
Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else, while under review for this journal.
Key Deadlines
Opening date for manuscripts submissions: 01/04/2024
Closing date for manuscripts submission: 30/09/2024
Guest Editors
Enrico Battisti, University of Turin, Italy, [email protected] (managing guest editor)
Hussain G. Rammal, University of Adelaide, Australia, [email protected]
References
Abakah, E.J.A., Tiwari, A.K., Oliyide, J.A. and Appiah, K.O. (2023), Analyzing the static and dynamic dependence among green investments, carbon markets, financial markets and commodity markets, International Journal of Managerial Finance, https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMF-09-2021-0428
Agha, M., Hossain, M.M., & Islam, M.S. (2024), Green finance when stakeholders’ interests collide with each other: the case of Bangladesh, International Journal of Managerial Finance, https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMF-03-2023-0158
Cherian, J., & Jacob, J. (2012), Green marketing: A study of consumers' attitude towards environment friendly products. Asian Social Science, 8(12), pp. 117-126.
Du, X. (2015). How the Market Values Greenwashing? Evidence from China. Journal of Business Ethics, 128(3), pp. 547-574.
Kumar, S., Sharma, D., Rao, S., Lim, W. M., & Mangla, S. K. (2022). Past, present, and future of sustainable finance: insights from big data analytics through machine learning of scholarly research. Annals of Operations Research, pp. 1-44.
Miroshnychenko, I., Barontini, R., & Testa, F. (2017). Green practices and financial performance: A global outlook. Journal of Cleaner Production, 147, 340-351.
Naseem, M.A., Battisti, E., Salvi, A. & Ahmad, M.I. (2024), Green intellectual capital and competitive advantage: the moderating role of corporate philanthropy during COVID-19, Journal of Intellectual Capital, 25(1), pp. 92-118
Qureshi, M.A., Ahsan, T., Gull, A.A. & Umar, Z. (2023), The impact of economic policy uncertainty on sustainability (ESG) performance: the role of the firm life cycle, International Journal of Managerial Finance, https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMF-04-2022-0158
Rossolini, M., Pedrazzoli, A. & Ronconi, A. (2021), Greening crowdfunding campaigns: an investigation of message framing and effective communication strategies for funding success, International Journal of Bank Marketing, 39(7), pp. 1395-1419.
Santos, C., Coelho, A., & Marques, A. (2023). A systematic literature review on greenwashing and its relationship to stakeholders: state of art and future research agenda. Management Review Quarterly, pp. 1-25.
Shang, Y., Raza, S. A., Huo, Z., Shahzad, U., & Zhao, X. (2023). Does enterprise digital transformation contribute to the carbon emission reduction? Micro-level evidence from China. International Review of Economics & Finance, 86, pp. 1-13.
Szerena, S., & Jane, W. (2021). Perceived Greenwashing: The Effects of Green Marketing on Environmental and Product Perceptions. Journal of Business Ethics, 171(4), pp. 719-739.
Testa, F., Miroshnychenko, I., Barontini, R., & Frey, M. (2018). Does it pay to be a greenwasher or a brownwasher? Business Strategy and the Environment, 27(7), pp. 1104-1116.
Tian, G., Lu, W., Zhang, X., Zhan, M., Dulebenets, M. A., Aleksandrov, A., . . . Ivanov, M. (2023). A survey of multi-criteria decision-making techniques for green logistics and low-carbon transportation systems. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 30(20), pp. 57279-57301.
Tiwari, A.K. (2022), Guest editorial: Green and sustainable corporate finance: past, present and future, International Journal of Managerial Finance, 18(4), 613-616.
Yang, Z., Nguyen, T. T. H., Nguyen, H. N., Nguyen, T. T. N., & Cao, T. T. (2020). Greenwashing behaviours: Causes, taxonomy and consequences based on a systematic literature review. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 21(5), pp. 1486-1507.
Zhang, D. (2023). Does green finance really inhibit extreme hypocritical ESG risk? A greenwashing perspective exploration. Energy Economics, 121, 106688
Zhang, J., & Zheng, T. (2023). Can dual pilot policy of innovative city and low carbon city promote green lifestyle transformation of residents?, Journal Of Cleaner Production, 405, 136711-
Zhang, L., Li, D., Cao, C., & Huang, S. (2018). The influence of greenwashing perception on green purchasing intentions: The mediating role of green word-of-mouth and moderating role of green concern. Journal of Cleaner Production, 187, pp. 740-750.
Zheng, J., Jiang, Y., Cui, Y., & Shen, Y. (2023). Green bond issuance and corporate ESG performance: Steps toward green and low-carbon development. Research in International Business and Finance, 66, 102007.
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