Governing indirect greenwashing in supply chains: The role of resource dependence and ESG transparency

Abstract

Supply chain sustainability governance lacks a framework connecting indirect greenwashing to the governance responses feasible under varying resource dependence constraints. Indirect greenwashing is defined as the transmission of misleading environmental claims from suppliers to lead firms that lack the informational or structural capacity to detect them. Prior research treats disengagement as the default governance response, abstracting from the resource-dependence conditions under which exit is neither economically nor operationally feasible. This paper asks how companies can respond structurally to indirect supplier greenwashing across varying configurations of resource dependence and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) transparency. Drawing on an integrative literature review, the paper develops the Indirect Greenwashing Strategies Prevention (IGSP) framework, a four-quadrant matrix that crosses supplier ESG transparency with buyer resource dependence to generate contingent governance prescriptions. Four strategic propositions are advanced, each associating a distinct governance logic with a relational configuration: mitigation, transformation, monitoring, and co-creation. The framework makes three contributions. First, it integrates resource dependence theory with the emerging stream of indirect greenwashing into a unified analytical structure. Second, it moves beyond the binary integration-versus-engagement logic that characterises prior upstream governance research. Third, it specifies the relational conditions under which blockchain-based transparency tools function as complements to governance rather than autonomous solutions.