Do Consumers Believe Green Claims? A Scopus-Based Bibliometric Review of Corporate Environmental Claims, Psychological Drivers and Green Scepticism

Abstract

Purpose – This study maps research on whether consumers believe corporate environmental claims, linking claim characteristics, psychological drivers, green scepticism, and transparency and authenticity.

Design/methodology/approach – Scopus records (n = 1,621) were retrieved on 2 October 2026. After excluding 26 pre-2000 records, 1,595 English-language articles and reviews published between 2000 and 2025 were analysed in Bibliometrix/Biblioshiny through performance analysis, co-citation, keyword co-occurrence, thematic mapping, trend topics and bibliographic coupling, supplemented by dictionary-based content tagging.

Findings – Output grew by 15.97% a year, and 72.9% of documents appeared in 2020–2025. Sustainability (Switzerland) is the most productive source and the Journal of Business Ethics the most cited. Co-citation reveals three foundations: measurement and attitude–behaviour research, advertising scepticism and greenwashing, and sustainable consumption and eco-labels. Of four research fronts, greenwashing–green scepticism–purchase intention is the most central and influential. Trust appears in 42.0% of documents; the shares addressing transparency and authenticity doubled after 2020, yet both remain detached from the scepticism core. Surveys and structural equation modelling dominate, while persuasion-knowledge and attribution theories are rarely used.

Research limitations/implications – The study relies on one database and English-language journal records. A TCCM agenda calls for experimental, longitudinal and cross-market designs.

Practical implications – Firms should replace vague claims with specific, verifiable ones backed by third-party evidence; regulators can target the claim features that trigger distrust.

Originality/value – This is the first Scopus-based bibliometric review to integrate claim characteristics, psychological drivers, green scepticism, and transparency and authenticity in one map of the field.