Complexity and consequences of greenwashing in a SOR framework. A systematic review from consumer literature

Greenwashing (GW) occurs when environmental communication is not matched by environmental performance, creating unwarranted sustainability impressions. This PRISMA 2020 systematic review synthesizes 88 peer-reviewed studies indexed in Scopus and Web of Science that examine GW from a consumer perspective. It consolidates how GW is conceptualized, how it is classified across typologies, which antecedents are emphasized, and which consumer mechanisms and outcomes are most frequently tested. Beyond consolidation, the review advances conceptual precision in three ways. First, it strengthens definitional clarity in consumer research by introducing a five-component articulation that makes boundaries explicit and reduces conceptual elasticity. Second, it reframes antecedents as a multilevel, configurational architecture: external pressures increase the payoff of appearing sustainable, while internal feasibility conditions enable the persistence of performance-communication decoupling. Third, it integrates fragmented findings through a Stimulus-Organism-Response lens that distinguishes immediate reactions from longer-term outcomes and spillovers. Taken together, these contributions improve cross-study comparability and provide a substantial theoretical basis for future empirical tests.