Green Finance (Jun 2024)
Pioneering paradigms: unraveling niche opportunities in green finance through bibliometric analysis of nation brands and brand culture
Abstract
This study reviews the literature focused on nation brands and brand culture through the innovative combination of latent Dirichlet allocation with a multinomial and unordered discrete choice analysis. Unlike a narrow perspective of bibliometric work, which confines itself to reviewing existing literature within a specific research domain, a broader viewpoint leverages bibliometric analysis to pinpoint potential research opportunities indicative of emerging trends in related fields. Adopting this comprehensive paradigm, the current study scrutinizes 60 articles spanning the timeframe from 1992 to 2021. The analysis discerns six prospective marketing strategies instrumental in propelling a country to global brand prominence: the synergistic integration of country-of-origin and city brands, consumption branding, materialistic branding, green branding, ideological branding, and scientific branding. Notably, environmental branding has assumed a pivotal global role post–2015, while ideological branding represents a more recent trend centered on diligent efforts to invigorate national identity systems. Empirical insights underscore the need of a multidisciplinary approach in the creation of nation brands, suggesting that distinct strategies need not be mutually exclusive. Quantitatively, it is found evidence that covering one additional environmental topic in a study increases (decreases) its likelihood of belonging to the consumption (ideology) cluster by 50.8 (50.6) percentage points, respectively. Strategic recommendations for future national endeavors emphasize the significance of becoming a Stackelberg leader in the race to generate added value. Collectively, these findings underscore that the bibliometric analysis employed to elucidate the evolution of nation brands and brand culture, typically associated with international marketing, unveils two promising niche areas for future research in green finance: green nation brands and green brand culture. The former pertains to asset allocations within green enterprises and environmental sectors, enhancing a country's symbolic commitment to the burgeoning green paradigm. Meanwhile, the later delves into the internalization of fintech development's growth and intermediary effects, fostering green innovation, energy efficiency, and green supply chains. This bottom-up approach is geared towards meeting community-based needs and presents valuable avenues for future exploration in the field of green finance.
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