Growing a greener future: A bibliometric analysis of green innovation in SMEs

Green innovation (GI) has attracted growing interest in academia, society and business due to its importance for environmental protection, quality of life, environmentally friendly products and economic results, especially among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Consequently, given the vast literature, a bibliometric analysis of GI in SMEs is presented to evaluate their conceptual structure using Scopus and Web of Science databases through performance and bibliometric mapping with VOSviewer and R software. The results show that this topic is a growing area of research, with 496 articles developed by 1373 authors, 218 journals and 63 countries. The structure shows that the main research topics relate to sustainable business development, green business transformation, sustainable business innovation and performance, sustainable production, barriers, drivers and outcomes, eco-innovation and sustainability, and innovation and knowledge management. This work offers updated and exhaustive information on advances in this field that serve as a guide for SMEs to make informed decisions about innovation strategies, as well as more effective practices and lessons learned from other similar companies. In turn, governments can take these results and design policies and programs to support GI. Finally, this article highlights gaps in the literature that suggest possible avenues for follow-up studies. • The results show a boom in the study of Green innovation in SMEs. • Thematic characteristics and academic trends in the field of study are identified. • The most prolific authors, journals and countries are listed. • The mapping analysis of the themes results in seven thematic clusters.