A systematic literature review of current understanding and future scope on Green Intellectual Capital

Purpose: This paper intends to scrutinize evolution and the growth of literature on green intellectual capital(GIC)over the period 2008 to 2022, consequences of green intellectual capital, its sectoral classification, current trends and future scope of research. Design/methodology: For a better understanding of this concept, a systematically arranged review was performed following PRISMA framework. For this, data has been extracted from Scopus and Web of Science databases because they are the largest databases and provide international coverage. Collected data was confined on the basis of inclusion and exclusion criteria. The paper was sectioned into two types of analysis: bibliometric analysis and content analysis. Findings: Results highlighted that green intellectual capital has important meanings in influencing organisational performance namely economic, social and financial performance. Studies were focused mainly on Asian countries using quantitative analysis and deduced that researchers were mainly focused on manufacturing sector. Findings depict that GIC translates into explicit results but when its components' effects are analysed, they individually show ambiguous results.Research limitations/implications: This study will provide useful insights to researchers, practitioners, managers and policy makers. Findings suggest intangible resource-green intellectual capital should be managed efficaciously which will provide competitive benefits and also contribute to organisations' financial, social and environmental performance.Originality/value: The existing literature needs to be comprehended and streamlined by interpreting the nuances in the existing research work for enabling synergy in deciphering the explicit outcomes of the extant literature. Also, there are only a few studies focusing on this construct and on its systematic literature review.