Silent learning loss: how greenhushing erodes organizational sustainability capability

Purpose This paper conceptualizes greenhushing as a challenge to organizational learning rather than disclosure, and examines how reduced sustainability communication erodes capability inside the firm. Design/methodology/approach Conceptual. The paper extends organizational learning and unlearning theory into the greenhushing literature and develops four propositions. Findings Silence withdraws three learning mechanisms: shared articulation, feedback through reporting cycles, and the legitimacy that funds development. Their combined withdrawal produces unintended unlearning, hard to detect because intent survives while capability declines. Research limitations/implications The framework is conceptual and requires longitudinal research across regulatory environments and firm sizes. Practical implications Human resource development (HRD) and learning and development (L&D) leaders should safeguard internal measurement, named ownership and role-level sustainability content when external disclosure contracts. Originality/value Greenhushing has been examined as a disclosure and signaling decision. This paper positions it as an antecedent of unintended unlearning and situates it within HRD.