Sustainable development, social responsibility and greenwashing: a trend analysis of scientific production in the Scopus database

Abstract

Corporate sustainability has evolved from a marginal initiative to a strategic imperative, yet greenwashing persists as a deceptive practice. This study analyzes recent scientific literature to understand this paradox. The research aimed to examine conceptual trends in corporate social responsibility and greenwashing. A mixed-methods approach (bibliometric and semantic) was applied to Scopus data (2020-2024), with five phases: descriptive characterization, structural mapping, relational analysis, prospective evaluation, and visual integration using VOSviewer. Greenwashing emerged as the central focus, followed by corporate social responsibility. Six thematic domains were identified, with corporate hypocrisy as the primary interdomain connector. Corrective mechanisms showed uneven effectiveness, proving more robust in developed economies. The transition from corporate social responsibility to Environmental, Social, and Governance criteria reflects a financialization of sustainability, yet perpetuates greenwashing. Dynamic models integrating micro, meso, and macro scales are needed to address the detected geopolitical and sectoral asymmetries.