A Bibliometric Review of Green Innovation Research in Business and Economics: Intellectual Structure, Thematic Evolution, and Research Fronts

This study examines the intellectual structure and thematic evolution of the green innovation literature through bibliometric methods, with a particular focus on knowledge production dynamics. Drawing on publications retrieved from the Web of Science database, an integrated set of analyses was employed, including thematic mapping, multiple correspondence analysis, thematic evolution analysis, keyword co-occurrence networks, as well as co-authorship, co-citation, and bibliographic coupling analyses. Taken together, the findings suggest that green innovation research has expanded not only in quantitative terms but also in conceptual scope, evolving into a thematically dynamic and globally asymmetric field. The literature appears to have shifted from early environmentally oriented perspectives toward a more outcome-driven framework that increasingly integrates technology, firm performance, and sustainable value creation. One notable observation is that the field is shaped by both highly influential foundational studies and network-based collective knowledge production processes. From a methodological perspective, the results indicate that the combined use of multiple bibliometric techniques is effective in capturing both the structural configuration and the dynamic development of the research field. While the analysis provides a comprehensive overview of the literature, it does not aim to exhaust all possible conceptual dimensions of green innovation research. Overall, the findings are expected to inform future theoretical and empirical studies and to contribute to a more holistic understanding of green innovation research.