A Scoping Review of Greenwashing
| dc.contributor.advisor | Segre-Cohen, Alex | |
| dc.contributor.advisor | Dahmen, Nicole | |
| dc.contributor.advisor | Smith, Hollie | |
| dc.contributor.author | Csaszar, Avery | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-12-12T22:41:59Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-12-12T22:41:59Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2024-11 | |
| dc.description | 51 pages | |
| dc.description.abstract | There has been evidence of climate change for over a century, and the impacts are becoming more intense as time goes on. There is no doubt that our Earth is suffering due to human-induced impacts, and the consequences will only become more severe if we do not begin to make drastic changes soon. Many products are made to appear environmentally friendly through aesthetic green packaging and environmental labels that indeed are only a front to the damaging effects of the lifecycle of the product. This may lead consumers who are environmentally conscious to feel urged to purchase these products because of these visible “environmental” traits, while the consumers are left unknowingly supporting a cycle of unsustainable products and behaviors. We must shift from this cycle of false claims to those of truth so that consumers may make decisions based on facts and not fear that what they see or read is simply a facade. With this, the image of being “green” is increasingly more important to society. Companies and organizations are attempting to uphold this green image to appeal to consumers with growing environmental awareness. This, however, leads to greenwashing, or when individuals or companies mislead the public into believing that a company or product is more environmentally friendly than it truly is. Greenwashing ultimately leads to a setback in the fight against the climate crisis and reinforces harmful behavior and practices toward the environment, for the sake of companies’ and individual’s green image. Through a scoping review, this research sought to define greenwashing and explore the tactics most used as well as the solutions the literature provides to combat greenwashing. It sought to be a comprehensive scoping review of greenwashing that yields a tool for researchers, policymakers, and the public to use to better understand and be educated on the topic of greenwashing as well as how to move forward in curbing the practice of greenwashing. This research answered the following research questions: 1. What criteria is used to identify greenwashing in literature found in select databases? What themes are most prevalent in the definitions of greenwashing? 2. What tactics of greenwashing have been most explored in academic literature? 3. What solutions does the literature provide to combat the practice of greenwashing? | |
| dc.identifier.orcid | 0009-0005-7210-433X | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1794/30241 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_US | |
| dc.publisher | University of Oregon | en |
| dc.rights | Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0-US | |
| dc.subject | Greenwash, Climate Change, Sustainability, "Seven Sins", Greenwashing | |
| dc.title | A Scoping Review of Greenwashing | |
| dc.type | Thesis |