Green Marketing: A Bibliographic Perspective

Abstract

Interest in green marketing in both the academic and practitioner communities has undergone steady growth in recent years. With more than 150 papers published in 2022, the Web of Science (WOS) database confirms this premise. Although some bibliometric analyses on this topic exist, none has included a comprehensive review of the literature, authors, journals, theories, keywords, and future lines of research as does this study. The aim of this paper, therefore, is to consolidate a descriptive bibliometric analysis to identify the main themes studied, the most influential authors and journals, the most commonly used theories, the networks that exist between authors and topics, the most frequently used keywords, and their evolution over the years. It has been found that green marketing research has increased rapidly, especially since 2015. In total, 1741 research articles have been published in 828 journals. The top five authors, the top 10 cited publications, and the top five cited publications by the WOS classification are all analysed herein. Finally, based on keyword analysis, it is concluded that “sustainability”, “planned behaviour”, “performance”, and “trust” have attracted extensive attention over the past decade.

1. Introduction

Due to the current climate crisis, green marketing has emerged as a vital subject matter for both professionals and scholars alike regarding companies, governments, and consumers. Companies address the challenge of the mitigation of environmental issues via their business strategies [1]. On their behalf, some governments have created regulations and sanctions to reduce environmental damage [2]. Moreover, awareness by consumers has been on the rise in recent years, and consequently, there is more manufacturing and marketing of ethical and sustainable products [3]. This has resulted in an increasing interest in green marketing in academia.

To contribute towards a more sustainable world, this present study reviews and analyses the research concept of green marketing from 1977 to 2022. This research is essential because not only has green marketing become a vital topic in addressing the current climate crisis but it is also sufficiently prolific to merit the creation of a bibliometric review. This is indispensable “for any research project and for the subsequent writing-up of the results of empirical research, or for the conceptualisation of a theoretical paper” [4]. The aim of this study, therefore, is to perform a descriptive bibliometric analysis of green marketing by addressing the following research questions: (i) Which are the most important studies? (ii) Which are the most widely used theories? (iii) Which are the most influential authors, journals, institutions, and countries? (iv) Which keywords are most predominant?

As a result, a review was conducted that included a total of 1741 research articles published in 828 journals. The review was based on co-authorship analysis, citation analysis, co-citation, and co-occurrence. We determined the top five authors that had contributed to the field as well as the countries, institutions, and journals. The principal theories were also analysed, and a strategic diagram was created that categorises the green marketing keywords through two periods: from 1977 to 2014 and from 2015 to 2022.

The subsequent sections of this paper are organised as follows: Section 2 presents a review of the prior literature; Section 3 outlines the methodology and the systematic approach employed in this study. Section 4 showcases the principal results of the co-authorship analysis, citation analysis, co-citation, and co-occurrence. In Section 5, we delve into a discussion of the results, limitations, and implications for future research. Finally, Section 6 provides the concluding remarks for the study.

2. Literature Review

The first term related to “green marketing” was ecological marketing and was defined by Hennion and Kinnear in 1976 as being “concerned with all marketing activities that have served to help cause environmental problems and that may serve to provide a remedy for environmental problems” [1]. Since then, numerous structured definitions have been provided, one of which, by Fuller [5], states that green marketing not only goes hand in hand with the idea of being environmentally friendly but also involves planning, implementing, and controlling. This implies pricing, promotion, and distribution of the final product in a manner that fulfils three requirements: satisfying the needs of consumers, achieving the objectives of the entity, and achieving both in a way that is respectful and compatible with the various ecosystems [1]. More recently, the American Marketing Association (AMA) has referred to green marketing as “the development and marketing of products that are presumed to be environmentally safe (i.e., designed to minimize negative effects on the physical environment or to improve its quality). This term may also be used to describe efforts to produce, promote, package, and reclaim products in a manner that is sensitive or responsive to ecological concerns” [6].

As the definition of green marketing has evolved, there has been a simultaneous growth in both publications and citations within this field. Figure 1 shows the number of papers published and the number of citations per year on the subject. According to the figure, publications of green marketing were few and far between until 2005, when interest in the topic was triggered, and in 2009, the trend escalated swiftly, with 51 articles published. Additionally, in 2015 the number of published papers experienced a 63% surge, with 133 pieces published compared to 85 in 2014. This rise could be explained by the emphasis placed on long-term environmental preservation through the Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations in 2015.

The volume of publications on green marketing experienced a decline from 2016 to 2018, with the yearly count not surpassing 110 papers during this period. However, a notable shift occurred in 2018 when the number of citations per paper started to exhibit a rapid increase, surpassing 8000 citations by 2021.

In 2019, there was a resurgence of interest in the topic. During the same year, the Harvard Business Review dedicated a special issue to consumer behaviour and focused on the elusive green consumer: individuals expressing a preference for sustainable products but not consistently purchasing them [7]. Additionally, sustainability-themed special issues in various journals, including Sustainability and the European Journal of Marketing, addressed the subject of sustainable consumption. Notably, the latter featured a paper on eco-friendly consumers and their responses to green innovation products [8].

The trend in 2019 focused on a comprehensive exploration of the green purchasing behaviour of consumers. Since 2019, the field has exhibited sustained growth, thereby indicating an ongoing and expanding interest in green marketing research. In 2021, a total of 178 papers were published on green marketing, and by the end of September 2022, an additional 150 papers had already been released.

As the concept of green marketing has progressed, a limited number of scholarly articles have undertaken bibliometric analyses within this domain. As of our current knowledge, Saleem et al. [9] conducted comprehensive bibliometric research, focusing on the most cited documents, journals, authors, and keywords in green marketing from 1977 to 2020, while Dangelico and Vocalelli [1] conducted a systematic review of green marketing definitions to understand how to create a green marketing strategy and green marketing mix. On the other hand, Kar and Harichandan [10] provided a bibliometric analysis of sustainable consumption and green marketing innovation from 1990 to 2021 focused on product strategy, and they concluded that eco-tourism, innovative marketing techniques, and green labelling have all gained importance.

Although some bibliometric analyses on this topic already exist, none has included a comprehensive review of the literature, authors, journals, theories, keywords, and future lines of research as does this study. We contribute to this field by delving into the analysis of various theories employed in green marketing. Furthermore, while keyword analyses are commonplace in the literature, our study distinguishes itself by uniquely exploring the evolutionary trends of green marketing over the years. This distinct approach enables us not only to trace the evolution of green marketing but also to identify key related terms such as “sustainability”, “planned behaviour”, “performance”, and “trust”. For instance, the most recent publication, Wang et al. [11], conducted a comprehensive bibliometric analysis from 1991 to 2021. Their study integrated co-citation, citation, and co-occurrence analyses and revealed that fields closely associated with green marketing include Business Strategy and the Environment (BSE), Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management (CSREM), and sustainable development.

3. Methods

The present study follows a systematic approach towards organising the knowledge of a literature review and involves five steps:

The first step that we followed was to define the research objective, and in accordance with the research question proposed in Section 1 (introduction), the objective of this study is to gather and compile the literature on green marketing that has been published, studied, and discussed in scientific publications worldwide from 1977 to 2022.

In order to achieve this goal, we passed step two, which was to choose the appropriate database; we selected the Web of Science as the source of our data. The Web of Science (WOS) is the collection of databases of bibliographic references and citations of periodicals that have gathered information since 1977, providing a long-term perspective on research, covering extensive scholarly literature, journals, books, conference proceedings, and data compilations [12]. Additionally, WOS is recognised for its rigorous selection criteria for indexed journals.

Following the selection of the database, the third step involves conducting a scoping review to identify relevant keywords for this study. Having meticulously examined articles on green marketing concepts, we have identified the words “green”, “greener”, “eco”, “ecological”, “environmental”, “sustainable”, and “sustainability”. Being associated with the word “marketing”, they are considered as synonyms, on the understanding that they could potentially exhibit slight variations in meanings and may signify an evolution of the concept over the course of time [1,13]. The WOS allows a researcher to specify the search desired by using Boolean logic to incorporate or omit keywords and specify academic journals. We define “green marketing” OR “greener marketing” OR “eco marketing” OR “ecological marketing” OR “environmental marketing” OR “sustainable marketing” OR “sustainability marketing” as our keywords, which have widespread acceptance in describing the core field. The review was performed in September 2022. In order to attain the widest possible range of scientific literature, no start date was specified, and no area was excluded from the search, which included both review papers and research papers. This procedure resulted in the identification of 1741 publications, which we believe cover the general corpus of work published on green marketing.

The fourth step was to select compatible articles; this step involved meticulous curation of the database. Duplicate articles and authors are identified and removed to ensure data integrity. Keywords are grouped based on synonyms, and certain types of publications, including book chapters, proceedings, and event articles, are excluded. This process streamlines the dataset for more focused and meaningful analyses.

In the final step, we extracted and evaluated the data [14]. This involved the systematic retrieval of relevant information from the selected dataset. The data extraction process is crucial for laying the groundwork for subsequent analyses and insights generation. Finally, the data extraction was carried out.

After extracting the data, we proceeded to analyse it using the VOSviewer and SciMAT tools. VOSviewer was utilised to create co-citation, co-occurrence, co-authorship, and citation analyses, while SciMAT was used to conduct a science mapping analysis. We explain both tools below.

VOSviewer version 1.6.16 “is a software tool for the construction and visualisation of bibliometric networks. These networks may include journals, researchers, and individual publications, and can be constructed based on citation, bibliographic coupling, co-citation, or co-authorship relationships” [15]. In VOSViewer maps, lines serve the purpose of connecting objects (such as papers, authors, organizations, and countries) that share robust associations. Physical distance indicates the level of correlation among nodes, and distinct colours are applied to individual clusters in order to differentiate each network [4].VOSViewer offers four different analyses; the first one is co-authorship analysis, this one determines the connection between institutions, authors, and countries to quantify the scientific collaboration; the second one is citation analysis, which establishes the impact of the links between papers, authors, journals, institutions, and countries by counting the number of times other authors reference it in their work; the third one is co-citation analysis, which indicates the frequency with which papers, authors, institutions, and countries are cited simultaneously by other documents [4]; the last one is co-occurrence analysis and involves examining the connections among the most commonly utilised keywords and terms throughout various studies.

In the process of utilising VOSviewer, each threshold analysis setting was purposefully adjusted to create a tailored visualisation that effectively communicates the most relevant and significant relationships within the field of green marketing. By excluding keywords associated with only a small number of documents and by highlighting connections between authors, countries, journals, and institutions that have collaborated on a minimum number of papers, we ensured focused research. The thresholds are described in Section 4 in each analysis.

SciMAT V1.1.04 is an open-source software tool for conducting science mapping analysis within a longitudinal framework; SciMAT offers various modules designed to assist analysts in executing the various stages of the science mapping workflow [16]. The procedure outlined below is followed with this tool: (i) Upload the data; (ii) Eliminate duplicate information; (iii) Create and normalise the network; (iv) Filter out non-representative items; (v) Standardise items using the equivalence index; and (vi) Implement a clustering algorithm to reach the map stage and utilise the simple centre algorithm to obtain the science map and its clusters [17].

After running the analysis, SciMat provides a strategic diagram that categorises the keywords in terms of centrality and density and distributes them into four distinct groups: motor themes, specialised or peripheral themes, emerging or disappearing themes, and basic or transversal themes. Centrality estimates the level of interaction between one network and another, signifying the topic’s importance in the development of the entire research domain. Density, on the other hand, quantifies the internal robustness of the network, revealing how the topic evolves over time (refer to Appendix A for a visual representation of the strategic diagram).

4. Results

This section unveils the outcomes of the bibliometric analysis of the green marketing literature published from 1977 to 2022. Starting with Web of Science data highlighting the most cited publications and prevalent theories in green marketing, we then delve into four analyses conducted with VOSviewer: co-authorship, citation, co-citation, and co-occurrence. Finally, the evolution of terms was generated by using the software SciMAT. For green marketing is presented across the periods 1977–2014 and 2015–2022.

4.1. Top Ten Most Important Papers

The Web of Science indicates that the term “green marketing” first appeared in the database with the publication of the paper titled “Ecological Marketing, the Answer to a Challenge” in 1980. It is important to note that the presence of the term in the database does not signify the commencement of an environmental concern in marketing but rather the initial occurrence of the term within the database. [18]. Since then, this topic has seen a notable increase, particularly in recent years. Table 1 presents the ten most cited papers in journals discussing green marketing topics in WOS 2022. The most cited paper is an article by Zhu et al. [19], published in the International Journal of Operation and Production Management. This article shows how Chinese manufacturing organisations have implemented certain practices in their green supply chain to become environmentally sustainable and how they have had an impact on the firm’s performance. The second most cited paper was written by Paul et al. [20], which aims to predict Indian consumers’ green product purchase intention through the theory of planned behaviour and the theory of reasoned action. The third article explains how greenwashing can have profound adverse effects on consumer and investor confidence in green products [21]. In consequence, Table 1 suggests that the topic is considered across diverse sub-disciplines of marketing to serve a variety of purposes and audiences.

Additionally, WOS data developed a new category analysis that helps to determine the reasons behind an article’s citation by employing citation categorizations assigned to recently published papers to collate references to this article, based on the author’s original purpose [22]. Appendix B contains the top five articles with the most citations. The rows show the aforementioned five categories, with the number of citations (cit.), while the columns present the respective papers of the categories. This is a different and interesting approach because authors can understand how each paper contributes to the green marketing academic discussion and how it can be used as a guide when authors want to start a new discussion or contribute towards another discussion. For example, in order to have a deep understanding of the topic, authors that are interested in contributing to the topic of purchase intention should look up which other authors have cited the paper: Predicting green product consumption using the theory of planned behaviour and reasoned action [20].

Table 1. Top ten most cited green marketing publications in journals.

Author	Title	Year	Journal	Cit.
Zhu et al. [19]	Green supply chain management in China: Pressures, practices, and performance.	2005	International journal of operation and production management	751
Paul et al. [20]	Predicting green product consumption using the theory of planned behaviour and reasoned action.	2016	Journal of retailing and consumer services	667
Delmas et al. [21]	The Drivers of Greenwashing.	2011	California Management Review	590
Chen, Yu-Shan [23]	The Drivers of Green Brand Equity: Green Brand Image, Green Satisfaction, and Green Trust.	2010	Journal of business ethics	524
Peloza et al. [24]	How can corporate social responsibility activities create value for stakeholders? A systematic review.	2011	Journal of the academy of marketing science	521
Luchs et al. [25]	The Sustainability Liability: Potential Negative Effects of Ethicality on Product Preference.	2010	Journal of marketing	519
Miles and Covin. [26]	Environmental marketing: A source of reputational, competitive, and financial advantage.	2000	Journal of business ethics	454
Hartmann and Apaolaza-Ibáñez [27]	Consumer attitude and purchase intention towards green energy brands: The roles of psychological benefits and environmental concern.	2012	Journal of business research	437
Chen and Chang [28]	Enhance green purchase intentions. The roles of green perceived value, green perceived risk, and green trust.	2012	Management decision	435
Peattie, K [29]	Green Consumption: Behaviour and Norms.	2010	Annual Review of Environment and Resources	376

Note: Ranking is based on WOS data. Cit. Citation.

Table 1. Top ten most cited green marketing publications in journals.

Author	Title	Year	Journal	Cit.
Zhu et al. [19]	Green supply chain management in China: Pressures, practices, and performance.	2005	International journal of operation and production management	751
Paul et al. [20]	Predicting green product consumption using the theory of planned behaviour and reasoned action.	2016	Journal of retailing and consumer services	667
Delmas et al. [21]	The Drivers of Greenwashing.	2011	California Management Review	590
Chen, Yu-Shan [23]	The Drivers of Green Brand Equity: Green Brand Image, Green Satisfaction, and Green Trust.	2010	Journal of business ethics	524
Peloza et al. [24]	How can corporate social responsibility activities create value for stakeholders? A systematic review.	2011	Journal of the academy of marketing science	521
Luchs et al. [25]	The Sustainability Liability: Potential Negative Effects of Ethicality on Product Preference.	2010	Journal of marketing	519
Miles and Covin. [26]	Environmental marketing: A source of reputational, competitive, and financial advantage.	2000	Journal of business ethics	454
Hartmann and Apaolaza-Ibáñez [27]	Consumer attitude and purchase intention towards green energy brands: The roles of psychological benefits and environmental concern.	2012	Journal of business research	437
Chen and Chang [28]	Enhance green purchase intentions. The roles of green perceived value, green perceived risk, and green trust.	2012	Management decision	435
Peattie, K [29]	Green Consumption: Behaviour and Norms.	2010	Annual Review of Environment and Resources	376

Note: Ranking is based on WOS data. Cit. Citation.

After having analysed every article in Table 1 and Appendix B, four main topics were found in the papers: (a) a green consumer purchase intention that is connected to consumer attitudes and behaviour in different industries, (b) green supply chain management, (c) greenwashing, and (d) green marketing practices and performance.

Additionally, with the WOS data, we analysed and determined which theories were employed the most by the authors, by approaching each article individually. In this research, approximately 70 theories were identified that authors utilised as a theoretical base for their papers. The most prevalent theories were the following: (a) the theory of planned behaviour; (b) the institutional theory; (c) the stakeholder theory; and (d) the signalling theory. In the following section, the four theories are explained.

4.2. Theories in Green Marketing

In this section, the most relevant theories in green marketing are presented in order of frequency.

The theory of planned behaviour (TPB): Among green marketing papers, this theory stands out as the most frequently employed. It is an extended concept of the theory of reasoned action (TRA), which predicts an individual’s intention to participate in a particular behaviour within a specific time and place [22,30]. The TPB was proposed by Ajzen [31] as a rational choice model, and it claims that behaviour is influenced by intentions, attitudes, and subjective norms (perceptions of others’ attitudes towards the behaviour). The difference between the TPB and TRA is the variable of perceived behavioural control (PBC). This variable “is the perception of behavioural control and its impact on intentions and actions” [31] (p. 186). The TPB was employed to explain that PBC and subjective norms may vary across cultures [32].

The institutional theory analyses the impact of institutions on the behaviour of actors engaged in institutionalization. This implies that actors can empirically develop and adopt certain behaviours to solve persistent issues because of an institutionalization process [33,34]. Consequently, companies achieve a degree of conformity due to this institutionalization process, aligning their goals with stakeholder pressures [35,36,37].

Stakeholder theory: “According to Freeman, a stakeholder is any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organisation’s objectives” [38] (p. 31). The stakeholder theory proposes that companies should implement strategies considering the interests of the parties and how they can be affected while attempting to minimise harm or maximise advantages for the representative groups [38]. In terms of green marketing, Hart [39] indicates that companies who drive towards developing and implementing a green strategy are more aware of stakeholders than a responsibility based only on minimum environmental regulatory obligations [40]. This theory also matches the triple-bottom-line paradigm of conducting business while safeguarding both people and the planet from harm [35]. It is through this overlap that it is possible to identify “consumers, competitors, government and non-government organisations, investors, supply-chain partners, employees, and society” [41], as cited in [35] as the group that could be affected by green marketing strategies.

The signalling theory defines the presence of asymmetric information access between individuals or organizations [42]. This signifies the existence of a sender and a receiver. The sender decides whether and how to communicate the information or signal, while the receiver determines the manner in which to interpret that conveyed information or signal [43]. As a result, this theory focuses on reducing information asymmetry between the sender and the receiver [44]. The signalling theory in green marketing, especially in advertising, provides an interpretation mechanism that affects consumers’ trust, thereby improving consumer purchasing intention. Based on the research of information economics, the signalling theory holds that consumers are at a disadvantage compared with sellers because they face an information deficit and must evaluate green products and services based on incomplete and confusing information [45]. Due to the importance of companies understanding the significant and positive effects of creating an environment image that consumers can trust, they should provide more information in terms of helping the consumers understand more about green products and convince them that their sustainability efforts are genuine and sincere.

To understand better how these theories have been used, we present the content of

Table 2. The application of theories to green marketing.

Theory	Green Marketing Application
Theory of planned behaviour (TPB)	Paper: Predicting green product consumption using theory of planned behaviour and reasoned action [20]. TPB provided an alternative model that offered the customer a deeper understanding of their green behaviours. The conceptual model proposes that attitudinal factors (environment concern, which is connected to the attitude of TPB), green perceived benefits, quality, awareness of price, and green willingness to purchase can predict the intention behaviours of the purchase of green products.
Institutional theory	Paper: The Drivers of Greenwashing [21]. Market external factors are important drivers of greenwashing. The regulatory context indirectly affects the drivers of greenwashing by affecting the availability and reliability of information about firm greenwashing and environmental performance accessed by stakeholders. External context, market external drivers (including consumer demand, investor demand, and competitive pressure) are critical to understanding why some firms choose to greenwash. The greater the perceived consumer and investor pressure for environmentally friendly firms, the more likely a brown firm (lead firms with poor environmental performance) is to greenwash.
Stakeholder theory	Paper: Environmental Marketing: A Source of Reputational, Competitive, and Morgan P. Miles Financial Advantage [26]. The concurrent requirements to simultaneously improve financial performance and environmental performance encourage firms to seek innovative ways to utilise environmental or green marketing and management as a source of enhancing reputational and competitive advantage and ultimately financial performance. Firms that produce superior quality products, use truthful advertising, act in a socially and environmentally responsible manner, and have a history of fulfilling their obligations to various stakeholder groups are creating reputational advantages. Enhancing environmental performance is both socially responsible and rational and builds the corporation’s reputational advantage.
Signalling theory	Paper: Signaling Theory: A Review and Assessment [43]. The firm’s efforts to signal a commitment to sustainable practice improve when customers and other stakeholders provide feedback about the effectiveness of those practices. Firms might use costly signals to communicate their unobservable values with respect to sustainability to their constituents to distinguish themselves from others. The cost of sustainability investments could be justified owing to the information that they communicate to organisational constituents, even (or especially) when those investments fail to provide a positive net present value to the firm.

Note: The theories are based on WOS data.

where, by analysing the top ten most cited publications (see Table 1), it is explained how these authors have used the theories and applied them to green marketing. Table 2 shows some examples of how the authors used the theory of planned behaviour, institutional theory, stakeholder theory, and signalling theory and applied them to green marketing and ranges from understanding why consumers want to buy green products to seeing why companies lie in terms of their own green practices. With this review of the theories, it has been determined that the majority of publications in green marketing are centralised on the customer, which creates an opportunity for authors to carry out in-depth research into green marketing orientation in organisations.

4.3. Co-Authorship Analysis

A total of 3944 authors have published papers related to green marketing in the Web of Science database. The most proactive authors are Chen Yu-Shan, Kim Juran, D’souza Clare, Do paco Arminda, Constantinos Leonidou, and Leonidou Leonidas (refer to Appendix C for more information about the authors).

After analysing the co-authorship maps per authors, institutions, and countries (see Appendix D), we found that Chen Yu-Shan and Chang Ching-hsun are the most cited authors, with 1664 and 954 citations, respectively. Additionally, we found that a distinct dialogue is emerging within an alternate network of authors conducting green marketing research that remains decentralised. The widespread cluster implies that new authors in this field have the opportunity to connect with various established groups of researchers or even pursue independent research: the case of Chen Yu-Shan and Chang Ching-hsun presents one such example [23]. In terms of institutions, the top three institutions are the Bucharest University of Economic Studies (17 publications), Islamic Azad University (13 publications), and the University of Leeds (11 publications). Finally, The United States is leading this area by producing 284 publications followed by the People’s Republic of China with 244 publications and India with 130 publications.

4.4. Citation Analysis

We also analysed how many times two items (papers, authors, journals, institutions, and countries) cite each other to identify the strength of the links among them (see Appendix E). We identified that the two most cited papers are Zhu et al. (2005), which connects 13 papers, and Paul et al. (2016) with 665 citations, which connects 7 papers. Regarding the relatedness among authors, the network shows that Leonidou Constantinos stands out as a key figure in connecting other authors. The five most influential authors, based on their citations are Chen (10 articles and 1664 citations), Chang (5 articles and 954 citations), Hartmann (4 articles and 781 citations), Leonidou Constantinos (6 articles and 744 citations), and Leonidou Leonidas (6 articles and 672 citations).

In relation to journals, the network shows that the Journal of Cleaner Production exhibits the highest number of connections (346) and is the most impactful (2900 citations), while sustainability has the most papers (120 documents). Furthermore, this paper examines the connections among different institutions. The National Taiwan University is the university that shows the most links between other institutions, followed by Cardiff University and Ohio State University. This network shows that green marketing is an international topic studied by various universities around the world. Regarding international connections among countries, the top five countries with the most citations and documents are the USA, the People’s Republic of China, India, England, and Australia.

This citation analysis shows that green marketing is an international topic with the interest of more than 3900 authors, 828 journals, and 1809 institutions and continues developing. As a consequence, approximately 94 countries have written about this topic. The dimension of the clusters demonstrates that it is a relevant factor and that many opportunities exist for new or additional research.

4.5. Co-Citation Analysis

VOS Viewer indicates the frequency with which papers, authors, institutions, and countries are cited simultaneously by other documents. In this co-citation analysis (see Appendix F), 55,923 references were analysed. It was found that the most cited paper is Fornell’s work in 1981, regarding Evaluating Structural Equation Models, with 198 citations [46]. The second is Laroche’s work in 2001 on consumers who are willing to pay more for green products, with 153 citations [47]. The next is Ajzen’s work in 1991 on the theory of planned behaviour (green cluster), with 140 citations [31]. Finally, to complete the top five of the most cited papers, we have Menon’s work in 1997, which discussed the Emergence of Corporate Environmentalism as a Market Strategy (red cluster), with 131 citations [48], and Peattie’s work in 2005 on how marketing can contribute to progress towards greater sustainability [49] with 140 and 28 citations, respectively.

Furthermore, we analysed the relationships among the 36,582 authors. The most prominent figures in green marketing studies, influencing other scholars in this field are Peattie, K (582 times), Chen, Y (471 times), Kotler, P (455 times), Polonsky, M (416 times), and Hair, J (344 times). Finally, a co-citation analysis shows that the Journal of Cleaner Production is the most cited (2848 times) from the 1809 papers, followed by the Journal of Business Research (2134 times) and the Journal of Business Ethics (1738 times).

4.6. Keywords: Co-Occurrence Analysis

Finally, co-occurrence analysis involves examining the connections among the most commonly utilised keywords and terms throughout various studies [4]. In this specific analysis, we decided to run the data in VOSViewer and SciMAT, which is a powerful “open-source science mapping software tool” [46] (p. 1609). VOSViewer helped us to determine the most common keywords in green marketing and SciMAT allowed us to visualise and identify specific topics and to present conceptual subdomains and their thematic evolution.

4.6.1. Keywords—VOSViewer

As Figure 2 illustrates, there are 32 keywords that exhibit strong interrelations, each appearing at least 30 times. The top ten keywords with the highest frequency of occurrences are “green marketing” (654 occurrences), “sustainability” (286 occurrences), “behaviour” (165 occurrences), “impact” (159 occurrences), “performance” (134 occurrences), “sustainable development” (124 occurrences), “consumers” (117 occurrences), “sustainable marketing” (116 occurrences), “strategy” (109 occurrences), and “products” (107 occurrences). The search terms have high occurrences. Consequently, there are three big clusters shown here in different colours that explain which keywords are linked most strongly. Among the top ten keywords with the highest frequency of occurrences, “green marketing”, “sustainability”, “impact”, “strategy”, “performance”, “innovation”, “sustainable development”, “competitive advantage”, “corporate social responsibility”, “supply chain management”, “environmental management”, and “corporate environmentalism” belong in the same cluster, which indicates that these terms often occur together. This cluster is one of the biggest, with 13 items co-related. The keywords “price”, “trust”, “quality”, “satisfaction”, and “perceived value” are more intimately related.

4.6.2. Keywords—SciMAT

For this research, the evolution of the keywords is presented in two periods: the first, from 1977 to 2014, and the second, from 2015 to 2022. These periods were chosen because 2015 was the year when scholars and practitioners started to investigate the field in greater depth. Figure 3a shows us the strategy diagram from 1977 to 2014, whereby the motor themes were green marketing (381 papers), innovation (81 papers), and companies (48 papers). In parallel, Figure 4a, covering from 2015 to 2022, shows that the motor themes had changed. The publications on green marketing doubled in number with 803 papers, and new concepts appeared, such as planned behaviour, corporate environmental performance, and trust.

Regarding transversal themes, before 2014, only corporate social responsibility was linked, which is in contrast with the period 2015–2022 with the appearance of perception, sustainable consumption, purchase intention, values, and firms. On the left-hand side, the specialised themes have similar behaviour, since from 1977 to 2014, we found just one keyword: willingness to pay. However, after 2015, the research area grew to include social media, pressure, scepticism, coordination, and public goods. Finally, the emerging themes of environmental concern and environmental attitudes were found for the first period, while for the second period, there is consumer behaviour, perspective, and publications related to China.

In order to better understand how these concepts are connected, another SciMAT feature called a thematic network was employed that represented the most significant keywords and their interconnections in the associated theme. For this specific network, the focus was on the motor themes (upper-right-hand quadrant of the strategic diagram) because that area contains the most significant keywords in the green marketing field.

The first keyword is green marketing, for which Figure 3b and Figure 4b show how this concept has grown. Firstly, there is considerable growth in the subcategories between the two periods, specifically in sustainability, consumers, strategies, and consumption. Secondly, new concepts appeared between 2015 and 2022: supply chain management and greenwashing, which focus the research more on the corporate side. Another interesting insight is that corporate social responsibility in Figure 3a’s strategic diagram (1977–2014) is a transversal theme; however, in Figure 4b, it becomes a motor theme.

The second keyword that is related to Figure 3c is that of companies, and it is linked with marketing, environmental advertising claims, corporate environmentalism, and topics related to the tourist area, especially in the form of hotels. Consequently, it can be observed that, before 2014, the research on green marketing related to corporate companies was of a general character. On the other hand, Figure 4d shows us a robust interconnection that currently includes not just the word company/corporate but also associates the environment and performance as just one topic. Furthermore, it is interesting to observe in Figure 3d how, in the first period, the keyword innovation was represented as the main word, but in the second period, this keyword has become part of the corporate-environmental-performance Figure 4d. This means that the green marketing field is growing, which provides an opportunity to research. Finally, in Figure 4c,e, planned behaviour and trust are central themes. The aforementioned theory of planned behaviour is one of the most frequently used theoretical bases for understanding green purchasing. Trust is related to the satisfaction and loyalty that a green consumer experiences with a company.

Considering that the VOSviewer analysis of co-occurrence keywords and SciMAT analysis are consistent with the field and keywords found in green marketing research, we can see how most of the discussion rotates around “sustainability”, “planned behaviour”, “performance”, and “trust”.

5. Discussion

The current study makes a significant contribution to the advancement of the green marketing literature by presenting a bibliometric analysis based on 1741 publications from the WOS database, along with a systematic review that provides enhanced clarity to the field. The ensuing discussion can be deduced from this study.

The study reveals a noteworthy increase in the volume of papers examined in the domain of green marketing over the years. Notably, there were distinct surges in 2009 and 2015, with a remarkable 63% increase in published papers compared to the preceding year. The year 2019 marked a significant focus on a thorough exploration of consumers’ green purchasing behaviour. An analysis of the top ten most cited papers in green marketing identified four main topics: (a) green consumer purchase intention, linked to consumer attitudes and behaviour across diverse industries; (b) green supply chain management; (c) greenwashing; and (d) green marketing practices and performance.

Furthermore, the examination of the journals housing these top-ten papers revealed a diverse thematic landscape. These journals span beyond the marketing field, encompassing production, retail, and management. This suggests that green marketing is a multidimensional and cross-disciplinary topic, serving various purposes and catering to diverse audiences.

Additionally, after examining the database, we identified the most frequently utilised theories in green marketing. The theory most commonly employed by authors is the theory of planned behaviour. This is unsurprising, given that the majority of green marketing research has focused on the consumer side. This theory demonstrates a robust understanding of human behaviour, explaining why consumers decide to purchase or not purchase green products. Moreover, it provides a comprehensive theoretical framework since it can be integrated with other theories such as the Value-Belief-Norm theory or Innovation Diffusion Theory.

The second most frequently used theory is the institutional theory. This theory is often employed to comprehend how institutional forces and structures influence companies’ adoption of environmentally sustainable practices. The third is the stakeholder theory, and the fourth is the signalling theory, each of which is detailed in Section 4.2. Having analysed these theories, it becomes evident that they focus on different elements within the marketing ecosystem. The theory of planned behaviour scrutinises the consumer, institutional theory delves into companies and their adoption of green practices, stakeholder theory encompasses everyone (customers, investors, employees, and communities), and signalling theory explains how asymmetric information flows in the ecosystem.

In scrutinizing the most influential authors, institutions, journals, and countries in green marketing research, a distinct pattern of centralisation emerges. This concentration emphasises the notable impact of specific contributors, institutions, and publication outlets on the current state of the field. Noteworthy among these figures are Yu-San Chen from China and Juran Kim from South Korea, along with the Journal of Cleaner Production and the Journal of Business Research, standing out for their significant contributions. The undeniable influence of the United States and the People’s Republic of China further solidifies their pivotal roles in shaping the discourse on sustainable practices and environmental marketing.

While this concentration has undoubtedly propelled the field forward, it is paramount to acknowledge the necessity for diversification. To attain a more nuanced and comprehensive understanding of green marketing, active exploration and engagement with emerging research and alternative perspectives are imperative.

In the same line, from the analysis of Table 1, it is surprising to note that the top ten most cited green marketing publications in journals have not significantly impacted marketing journals. Only two, namely the Journal of Marketing and the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, are widely recognised within the marketing community, while The Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services holds less recognition. The remaining seven journals, although they may publish marketing articles, are generally not considered marketing journals but rather fall into the category of general business publications. This observation may stem from a gap in understanding how academics categorise journals, since the diversity in research interests among marketing academics suggests varying perspectives on the quality of different marketing journals. Moreover, one’s affiliation with a journal, either as an author or editorial board member, can also influence perspectives [50]. Consequently, our results indicate a need for increased attention to green marketing in the field and a lack of attention by marketing journals, although to the best of our knowledge, there is not one updated classification in marketing journals. Academics should address this issue and give more consideration to the significance of green marketing in their publications.

Moreover, a noticeable trend is the increasing concentration of themes and keywords within the sustainability domain, aligning with the technical terminology commonly associated with traditional marketing. This pattern underscores the anticipated reliance on researched technical concepts within green marketing. Also, by systematically analysing the distribution of author keywords, it could be concluded that the research on “sustainability”, “planned behaviour”, “performance”, and “trust” has attracted extensive attention during the past decade. Furthermore, new concepts appeared between 2015 and 2022: supply chain management and greenwashing, which focus more on the corporate side of research. The co-occurrence analysis is shown chronologically, between 1977 and 2014 and between 2015 and 2022, to denote the keywords’ current relevance in this research field, while allowing for the realisation of four research areas and several potential future research topics located on the fringes of the density and centrality perspective (Figure 4). This offers valuable knowledge for those interested in conducting research in this field, since it enables the clear identification of the upcoming research streams.

The analysis of green consumer behaviour [51] could be possible, for instance, by approaching the development of green marketing in the supply chain [52,53] with one integrative point of analysis in mind. This could open the door to understanding how green marketing creates value through the interaction of the different actors present in the firm’s ecosystem [54].

6. Conclusions

In conclusion, this study aimed to consolidate a comprehensive bibliometric analysis, shedding light on the main themes, influential authors and journals, prevalent theories, author-topic networks, frequently used keywords, and their evolution between 1977 and 2022 in the domain of green marketing. By utilising the Web of Science (WOS) database and employing analytical tools such as VOSviewer and SciMAT, our investigation encompassed co-authorship, co-occurrence, citation, and co-citation analyses, alongside theory scrutiny.

The findings reveal an increase in green marketing research, particularly since 2015. Notably, authors Yu-San Chen from China and Juran Kim from South Korea emerged as leading contributors in this domain. The theory of planned behaviour emerged as the most utilised framework for explaining green marketing.

In essence, our keyword analysis underscores the enduring attention given to concepts such as “sustainability”, “planned behaviour”, “performance”, and “trust” over the past decade. By analysing 1741 research articles from 828 journals, this paper contributes significantly to the growing body of green marketing research, providing fresh insights and enriching the scholarly discourse in this field.

The primary limitation of this study is its reliance on the Web of Science database, potentially excluding papers from non-listed journals. Moreover, the restriction of bibliometric analysis to a singular database underscores a crucial consideration. It is imperative to recognise that the bibliometric tools employed in this research may lack applicability to alternative databases, particularly those possessing extensive document repositories, such as Google Scholar. Consequently, the findings might not fully represent the entirety of green marketing work. Furthermore, this paper reviews the green marketing literature from 1977 to 2022, omitting publications from 2023. As a result, new research and developments emerging after the completion of this paper might not be reflected. Future research could be influenced by more journals joining the Web of Science. Nonetheless, our investigation contributes to the green marketing literature, aiding researchers in identifying areas for further exploration and theory development.

The use of a bibliometric analysis tends to favour old papers to the detriment of more recent studies with a high level of quality but that still have not had time to receive the attention they deserve. The reduction in periods in the analysis of keywords can help to reduce this effect, but still, recent papers or those published in the last part of the period receive fewer citations than those previously published. Further research could explore the sensitivity of the current bibliometric tools to the periods selected. The importance of these documents should be observed over time by considering the evolution of the most recent research.

Another limitation lies in the fact that bibliometric studies predominantly centre on the quantitative enumeration of publications, often neglecting the crucial consideration of the qualitative aspects inherent in academic contributions. Further, given that the primary objective of this paper was to conduct a descriptive bibliometric analysis of green marketing, this paper lacks the proposal of any theoretical propositions or hypotheses. Future research could build upon our descriptive findings to develop conceptual models [55], test hypotheses, and contribute further to the theoretical advancements in green marketing.

In addition to these limitations, the present study presents numerous potential avenues for future research. First, the majority of the publications in green marketing predominantly focus on customer behaviour, leaving many other areas unexplored. Second, while our study highlights the continued relevance of the keyword “performance” in this field, there is a noticeable lack of literature addressing the strategies that companies should adopt for the effective implementation of those green marketing initiatives that lead to enhanced performance. Recent attention to green marketing and supply chain management strategies signifies a growing interest, and hence further exploration in these areas, along with green human resources management, cleaner production strategies, and circular economy, is warranted to provide guidance for companies aspiring to adopt greener practices. Third, another keyword that has become intertwined with corporate performance is “innovation.” This opens avenues for research in various topics, such as green product innovation, eco-innovation, and sustainable innovation.

Moreover, the current definition of marketing includes the creation of value. To date, the relationship between green marketing and value creation has barely been analysed. In our analysis service, value creation and value do not feature as keywords in understanding sustainability [25,56]. Specifically, Vargo et al. [57] propose the alignment of these two approaches in marketing, green marketing, and service-dominant logic, by including the multi-actor point of view.