Greenwashing in Corporate Environmentalism Research and Practice

Barely a month goes by without another high-profile firm being accused of misleading communications about environmental activities or performance. Already in 2014, Nestle has been called to account for promoting its customized recycling program for Nespresso disposable coffee pods, which has only a negligible overall waste reduction impact. Unilever has been subjected to a Twitter campaign alleging that its partnership with The Guardian newspaper to host a sustainable living online engagement platform did not accurately reflect the firm’s true environmental impacts. The frequency of similar problems, the high profile of the organizations involved, and the potentially damaging implications for the credibility of managers and researchers of organizations and natural environment motivated us to devote this collaborative editorial to the research frontiers and implications of corporate greenwashing, illustrating some of our ideas with the articles in this issue.