Corporate responsibility or corporate illusion? An integrative review analysis of the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) shortcomings and greenwashing in Sub-Saharan Africa
Prosper Mutswiri ORCID ↗ · Limkile Mpofu ORCID ↗ · Zamokuhle Mbandlwa ORCID ↗
International Journal of Business Ecosystem & Strategy · 2026 · Vol. 7 / Issue 6 · 686-698
Publication metrics
External links open provider records or DOI searches. Provider counts are not combined. Mendeley readership measures saves, not citations.
Dimensions
Live provider badge. If unavailable, use the Dimensions link above.
Observed 21 Oct 2026, 00:14 UTC
Observed 21 Oct 2026 00:14 UTC
OpenAlex and Mendeley observations refresh on article visits, at most once per 24 hours. Unavailable data is not zero. Google Scholar opens a DOI search.
Citations received by this article, grouped by the year of the citing work. Crossref and OpenAlex lifetime totals remain separate in Publication metrics.
2017–2026 Annual history last updated:
Citations received
OpenAlex · year of the citing work
Hover over a year or focus the chart and use arrow keys to inspect values.
2017–2026 annual-history window. 2026 is year to date. Unknown years have gaps.
View data & coverage
2026 is incomplete. Within a successfully fetched ten-year window, omitted years mean zero. Years beyond a saved observation’s window remain unknown (—). Older citations are excluded, so this chart’s sum may differ from the OpenAlex lifetime total. The date above belongs to this annual history; an unsuccessful refresh keeps the previous observation.
Abstract
This study examines how environmental, social, and governance malpractices manifest as selective disclosure and weak assurance, enabling greenwashing across corporations in sub–Saharan Africa, and delineates governance and policy levers to curb these behaviors. Following integrative review standards, the study screens Scopus and Web of Science outputs and synthesizes 22 peer-reviewed studies published between 2014 and 2024 using a transparent PRISMA-informed pipeline and thematic coding to ensure replicability and analytic depth. The evidence shows that greenwashing is driven by regulatory gaps, voluntary compliance regimes, and narrative heavy self-reporting, while quality of integrated reporting is unevenly translated into real performance, signalling persistent decoupling between disclosure and outcomes; the preponderance of studies identifies governance weaknesses and selective disclosures as recurrent enablers across sectors including certification schemes and the built environment, corroborating the dominance of symbolic over substantive implementation in many African settings. The review argues for stronger ESG legislation, independent third-party auditing, and digital monitoring tools to restore investor confidence, protect public trust, and align corporate behaviour with the Sustainable Development Goals in sub-Saharan Africa
Authors & affiliations
Prosper Mutswiri
ZESA National Training Centre, 16676 Ganges Road, Belvedere, Harare, Zimbabwe
Limkile Mpofu
Department of Public Management & Economics, Faculty of Management Sciences, Durban University of Technology (DUT), KZN, South Africa, 4000
Zamokuhle Mbandlwa
Department of Public Management and Economics, Faculty of Management Sciences, Durban University of Technology, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Deposited references
Supplied references, not a list of publications citing this article.
No reference list supplied.