Research Trends in Green Product for Environment: A Bibliometric Perspective

Abstract

The term "green products" is used commonly to describe the products that seek to protect or enhance the environment during production, use, or disposal by conserving resources and minimizing the use of toxic agents, pollution, and waste. Hence, green products offer potential benefits to the environment and human health. Therefore, environmentally conscious consumers have shown an enhanced inclination for them. Consumer preferences, environmental activism, and stringent regulations have forced sustainability-oriented firms to shift their focus to producing green products. The present study uses bibliometric tools and various indicators to discern research progress in the field of green products over the period 1964-2019. Further, VOSviewer software is applied to map the main trends. A total of 1619 publications during the study period were extracted from the SCOPUS database using different keywords related to the green products. The data analysis indicates that the field of green products has experienced significant growth since 1964, especially in the last 14 years. In terms of publications and citations, the United States is the leading country. The field of research concerning green products has evolved from the early debates on sustainable design, green marketing, sustainable development, and sustainability. The topic seems to be advancing into a variety of green themes related to consumer trust and purchase intentions, branding and loyalty, and environmental and health consciousness.

Keywords: bibliometric analysis; green marketing; green product; literature review; sustainability; sustainable development.

Figure 1

Data collection and analysis approach.

Figure 2

Year-wise research production and their total citation.

Figure 3

Progression of the research publications by the top five countries.

Figure 4

Authorship pattern of green product research.

Figure 5

Yearly growth of top sources in the field of green products.

Figure 6

The citation life cycle of the highly cited articles in green products. (TC–Total Citations, ACPY–Average Citations per Year).

Figure 7

Network diagram based on the mean value of co-occurrence of keywords.