Sixteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

Organizational scholars have published a large volume of research on corporate greening (see Van der Byl & Slawinski, 2015) but have not yet given adequate attention to what is arguably a more pervasive response of corporations to the environmental movement: greenwashing. It is important to begin differentiating more clearly between corporate greening and greenwashing in research on corporate environmentalism because environmental problems continue to escalate (as is apparent from the recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2018) and incremental solutions from the corporate sector do not adequately address environmental concerns. Moreover, corporate leaders continue to assert that the answer to environmental problems is not more stringent government regulation, more militant challenges from environmental stakeholders, more scrutiny by mass media organizations, or more surveillance and exposure by citizens and consumers using social media and other means. Corporate leaders increasingly contend that voluntary environmental initiatives and participation in voluntary programs that encourage firms to go beyond compliance with minimal legal requirements provide a better approach to enhancing corporate environmental performance. There is an epic struggle being waged between those who are idealistic enough to believe that corporations can and will voluntarily engage in meaningful (comprehensive) greening and those who contend that the requirements of capitalism favoring shareholders will limit environmental (and other) stakeholders to a marginal role. In light of this struggle, research that tacitly endorses or that enshrines incremental and trivial changes in corporate conduct needs to be examined with a skeptical lens.