Journals / Erciyes İletişim Dergisi / 2026 / Cilt: 13 Sayı: 2

Greenwashing in Communication Literature: A Bibliometric Analysis of Trends, Themes, And Academic Networks

İletişim Literatüründe Greenwashing: Eğilimler, Temalar ve Akademik Ağlar Üzerine Bibliyometrik Analiz

Filiz Balta Peltekoğlu(MARMARA ÜNİVERSİTESİ, İLETİŞİM FAKÜLTESİ)0000-0001-6667-1737
Emel Demir Askeroğlu(TEKİRDAĞ NAMIK KEMAL ÜNİVERSİTESİ)0000-0003-3953-5734
Pages
653–673
Publication Date
2026-07-30
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AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

The findings indicate that the literature has predominantly developed around the axes of environmental communication, advertising, public relations, and sustainability, and that the United States ranks first in the literature in terms of both the number of publications and citations.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

🎯
Objective & Hypothesis:As environmental issues continue to grow, consumers are becoming more environmentally conscious, and businesses are shifting their practices and strategies towards more environmentally friendly approaches.
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Key Findings & Data:With this trend towards environmentally friendly strategies, environmental discourse is also becoming part of communication strategies.
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Conclusion & Impact:The findings indicate that the literature has predominantly developed around the axes of environmental communication, advertising, public relations, and sustainability, and that the United States ranks first in the literature in terms of both the number of publications and citations.
🔬Design:Araştırma Makalesi
📍Scope:Comprehensive Sample
⚙️Variables:Greenwashing · Bibliyometri · Bibliyometrix

Abstract

As environmental issues continue to grow, consumers are becoming more environmentally conscious, and businesses are shifting their practices and strategies towards more environmentally friendly approaches. With this trend towards environmentally friendly strategies, environmental discourse is also becoming part of communication strategies. Even minor differences between companies' environmental claims and actions negatively impact perceptions of the company's image and credibility. Although there is no single accepted definition of greenwashing, the concept focuses on two fundamental behaviors: preventing the dissemination of negative information about a company's environmental performance and exposing positive information about its environmental performance. Greenwashing lies at the intersection of environmental performance and communication and is associated with efforts to create a positive image on environmental issues. In this study, academic articles related to greenwashing in the Communication category of the WOS database were analyzed. Bibliometrix/biblioshiny was used in the analysis of the 88 articles found. Within this framework, the journals in which the articles are concentrated, publication and citation trends, authors, geographical distribution, most cited countries and institutions, document coupling, prominent themes and concepts, and the most frequently used keywords were identified. The findings indicate that the literature has predominantly developed around the axes of environmental communication, advertising, public relations, and sustainability, and that the United States ranks first in the literature in terms of both the number of publications and citations.

Özet

Giderek artan çevre sorunlarıyla birlikte tüketicilerin çevresel duyarlılıkları artmakta, işletmeler iş yapış biçimlerini ve stratejilerini daha çevre dostu yollara yöneltmektedir. Çevre dostu stratejilere yönelimle birlikte, çevresel söylemler de iletişim stratejilerinin bir parçası haline gelmektedir. İşletmelerin çevre ile ilgili iddiaları ve eylemleri arasındaki küçük farklılıklar bile işletmenin imajı ve güvenilirliğine ilişkin algıyı olumsuz yönde etkilemektedir. Greenwashing kavramının kabul görmüş tek bir tanımı olmasa da kavram, şirketin çevresel performansıyla ilgili olumsuz bilgilerin açıklanmasını engellemek ve çevresel performansıyla ilgili olumlu bilgileri ifşa etmek gibi iki temel davranışa odaklanmaktadır. Greenwashing çevresel performans ve iletişimin kesişim noktasında yer almakta ve çevre konusunda olumlu imaj yaratma çabasıyla ilişkilendirilmektedir. Bu çalışmada WOS veri tabanında İletişim kategorisinde bulunan greenwashing ile ilgili akademik makaleler analiz edilmiştir. Ulaşılan 88 makalenin analizinde Bibliometrix/biblioshiny kullanılmıştır. Bu bağlamda makalelerin literatürde yoğunlaştığı dergiler, yayın ve atıf eğilimleri, yazarlar, coğrafi dağılım, en çok atıf alan ülkeler ve kurumlar, doküman eşleşmesi, öne çıkan temalar ve kavramlar ile en çok kullanılan anahtar sözcükler belirlenmiştir. Literatürün ağırlıklı olarak çevresel iletişim, reklamcılık, halkla ilişkiler ve sürdürülebilirlik ekseninde geliştiği ve ABD’nin en çok çalışma ve atıfla literatürde ilk sırada yer aldığı sonucuna ulaşılmıştır.

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Cite This Article

Peltekoğlu, F. B., Askeroğlu, E. D. (2026). Greenwashing in Communication Literature: A Bibliometric Analysis of Trends, Themes, And Academic Networks. Erciyes İletişim Dergisi, Cilt: 13 Sayı: 2, 653–673. https://doi.org/10.17680/erciyesiletisim.1881606

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