ESG in Business Research: A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

A company’s “value” is increasingly influenced by three criteria: the way it acts to protect the environment, its attitude towards society and the principles of corporate governance it has adopted. That is the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) acronym, and it has substantial impact on company value. To further understand the ESG landscape in business research, this article aims to analyze the existing literature and present the current state of knowledge, main trends, and future perspectives. Through the Scopus database, the authors examine a sample of 1034 articles spanning from 2006 to 2022. VOSviewer and Biblioshiny packages are used for performance analysis and visualization of the publication trends, the conceptual structure of the field and the research collaborations. The results suggest that the publication and citation trends of ESG register an upward trend over time. In terms of research institutions, most of the influential ones emanate from the US, while a significant percentage of articles were published in top-tier financial journals. Science mapping via co-authorship analysis bifurcates the sample into six clusters and reveals the major themes and their evolution. Keyword analysis unfolds emerging trends that could be further explored. Given the breadth of the sustainability field and the ever-changing business environment, this paper is of great practical importance in motivating companies to engage in ESG activities. To the authors’ knowledge, no other study has attempted a comprehensive and detailed BA covering multiple aspects and dimensions of ESG in the corporate research field. The theoretical framework of this paper fills this gap and offers an in-depth synthesis of all published papers, providing invaluable insights to scholars, the business community and regulatory authorities, and creating alternative research paths for aspiring researchers.

1. Introduction

Over the last decade, shareholders, investors, employees, and international legal bodies have shown keen interest in Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) policies, urging the business community to adopt more sustainability-oriented actions (Skordoulis et al. 2022; Xanthopoulou et al. 2024; Duque-Grisales and Aguilera-Caracuel 2021; Fülbier and Sellhorn 2023; Correa Ruiz et al. 2023; Laine et al. 2020; Chasiotis et al. 2023b). In response to this need, firms have started to develop and implement ESG practices (Pietrancosta and Marraud des Grottes 2022; Kalantonis et al. 2022; Delegkos et al. 2022). The concept of ESG incorporates three key pillars: environmental, social, and governance. The environmental pillar (E) includes indicators that evaluate a firm’s impact on the environment and its efforts to make a positive contribution and promote sustainable approaches. The social pillar (S) evaluates the way a company handles its relations with its stakeholders, including actions to enhance the well-being of employees, support diversity, and ensure fair policies within the organization. Finally, the governance pillar (G) refers to a firm’s internal policies, processes related to decision-making, board composition, risk management, transparency and operational accountability frameworks (Chemmanur et al. 2021; Economidou et al. 2023; Jain and Tripathi 2023; Chasiotis et al. 2023a). In practice, ESG serves as an indicator attempting to capture companies’ sustainability performance (Tenuta and Cambrea 2022; Papagrigoriou et al. 2021). Consequently, a considerable body of studies employ the terms ESG and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) interchangeably, despite ESG being a more expansive terminology that encompasses governance issues (Gillan et al. 2021; Mendiratta et al. 2023). In this essence, ESG refers to how companies and investors integrate environment, social and governance considerations into their business practices (Wang et al. 2023a).

Companies engage in ESG activities and reporting in order to enhance performance, signal compliance to market participants, and address environmental and social risks (Khan 2022; Ernst & Young 2021). From a broader perspective, these corporate activities contribute to fostering more sustainable development (De Giuli et al. 2023). Based on this premise, scholars utilize ESG ratings to explore various research inquiries aimed at understanding global responsibility issues.

The development of ESG has profoundly stimulated research across diverse perspectives. Literature reviews extensively explore ESG from various angles such as corporate finance (Gillan et al. 2021; Daugaard 2020), accounting and reporting (Lagasio and Cucari 2019; Tsang et al. 2023), and management (Kluza et al. 2021; Lim et al. 2022). Other studies focus more on performance analysis of the data, while using less graphical mapping to reflect the conceptual and intellectual context of the academic landscape (Li et al. 2021; Gao et al. 2021). Khan (2022) uses both bibliometric and meta-analysis (MA) methods in sustainable finance, revealing a statistically significant relationship among ESG, performance, size, and leverage, based on a sample of 199 papers published between 2012 and 2020. He suggests that additional BA should be performed to maintain the ability to stay up-to-date with the latest research activities in ESG. Jain and Tripathi (2023) conduct a BA to map the ESG-related academic literature, while limiting the content analysis to 190 papers published in top-tier journals in the last five years (2017–2021). However, there is a gap in research that covers ESG comprehensively across all business areas, highlighting the existing work in this realm. Effectively managing this extensive volume is critical for streamlining existing research, providing valuable insights to academics, practitioners, and regulators, and guiding future endeavors.

In light of the preceding discussion, a bibliometric analysis (BA) is conducted with the objective of uncovering new evidence and complementing the findings of the aforementioned articles regarding the ESG philosophy at a global scale within the field of business. In this context, the following objectives are pursued: the use of more recent data to reflect the characteristics of the academic landscape; the quantification and mapping of scholarly research through the use of VOSviewer and Biblioshiny; the tracing and description of the hotspots of the topic through the setting of different thresholds; the presentation of a visual analysis providing a more functional and useful study for future ESG research; the investigation of the shift in the trajectory of the research themes and the identification of potential avenues that may deserve more attention; and the addressing of the limitations of the current article. More specifically, we aim to address six research questions (RQ):

• RQ1: What is the current development and trend in this research area?
• RQ2: What are the influential research constituents (e.g., (a) countries, (b) authors, (c) journals and (d) articles) in research related to ESG?
• RQ3: What is the state of collaboration among countries in the ESG literature?
• RQ4: What are the most prominent themes in studies related to ESG?
• RQ5: How has research changed regarding this issue over time?
• RQ6: What are the future research areas and gaps in ESG research from a business perspective?

This review makes several important contributions to the extant literature. First, to the best of our knowledge, it is the first to offer an all-encompassing and detailed BA, covering various aspects and dimensions of ESG in the area of business research. It identifies broader thematic categories and topics of interest in the ESG literature (e.g., ESG scores, environmentalism, investment growth, corporate sustainability, and firm characteristics) and contributes to the theoretical evolution of the field. Second, it enriches the existing literature by synthesizing findings from 1034 studies spanning 16 years, highlighting more succinctly the development of this domain, while it complements several previous reviews which either include smaller ranges of documents or are based on a shorter time period. Third, it provides valuable insights regarding the structure of this corpus of literature, beneficial for scholars, market participants, standard-setters and policymakers. Finally, it shapes the future ESG research agenda by critically discussing the existing gaps and highlighting areas that warrant more scholarly exploration.

The structure of the paper is as follows. Section 2 provides an overview of the literature. Section 3 presents the methodology and data. Section 4 discusses the results, followed by the conclusion in Section 5.

2. Literature Review

While literature reviews serve the purpose of synthesizing previous research within specific areas, they encompass diverse objectives and employ distinct methodologies in their approach (Snyder 2023). Therefore, we present a selection of review papers focusing on ESG and published in established journals within the broader field of business research (i.e., accounting, management, finance) as identified by Academic Journal Guide (2019).

Numerous reviews have explored ESG from the perspective of corporate finance. Daugaard (2020) conducted a systematic literature review on ESG investment articles, identifying five potential research areas. Similarly, Gillan et al. (2021) focused on ESG and CSR, emphasizing the necessity for additional research to elucidate the impact of ESG activities on risk mitigation and the potential enhancement of firm value. Additionally, Au et al. (2023) applied a systematic review (SR) to analyze a total of 111 ESG-related papers that were published in top-quality journals between the years 2009 and 2022. The main objective of this analysis was to identify the theoretical foundations of the ESG literature and its development trends. Huang (2021) conducted an in-depth review analyzing 21 meta-analytic studies and revealing a positive and significant relationship between ESG and firm performance while addressing key moderators. Similarly, Galletta et al. (2022), through a bibliometric analysis, examined 271 articles concerning ESG performance within the banking industry and provided insights into its evolution, current status, and future directions. In a similar vein, De Giuli et al. (2023) used systematic and bibliometric analyses to explore ESG and risk across 589 papers, presenting a comprehensive overview of the existing literature on this domain. By conducting a systematic literature review (SLR) of 49 studies (2017–March 2022) De Souza Barbosa et al. (2023) examined how ESG criteria integration affects corporate sustainability performance (CSP), and emphasized that ESG criteria integration, observed from different viewpoints, enhances CSP.

Further reviews have been conducted in ESG from the perspectives of accounting and reporting. For instance, Lagasio and Cucari (2019) conducted a meta-analysis of 24 papers, examining the impact of corporate governance on ESG disclosure. A study by Singhania and Saini (2023) provides an analysis of ESG frameworks and trends across different countries, along with suggestions for enhancing ESG adoption. Additionally, Tsang et al. (2023) organized a review study on ESG disclosure in accounting research, addressing pivotal and contentious issues while proposing directions for future studies. Shen et al. (2023) conducted a review study that synthesizes research exploring the comprehensive concept of ESG in China, encompassing disclosure, rating, and investment perspectives.

Management-oriented reviews have also contributed to this landscape. For instance, Kluza et al. (2021) conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis of 72 articles, revealing a consistent positive correlation between innovations and sustainable business models across diverse countries. Similarly, Lim et al. (2022) conducted a meta-systematic review focusing on the convergence of ESG and total quality management, aiming to extract valuable insights for future research and practical applications in this field. Additionally, Wang et al.’s (2023b) bibliometric study explored the diverse mechanisms through which ESG practices contribute to corporate value creation, considering perspectives of risk, information, and strategy.

Contemporary bibliometric analyses either focus on the philosophy of ESG in a broad context (Benameur et al. 2024; Kansal et al. 2024), or highlight more specific aspects, such as crisis-induced changes (Marie et al. 2024) and factors affecting ESG performance within organizations (Khaw et al. 2024; Petrica et al. 2024). Specifically, the bibliometric analysis on sustainability reporting performed by Benameur et al. (2024) emphasized the importance of companies communicating their commitment to sustainability and suggested the exploration of alternative approaches, such as self-organizing maps and continuous space. Kansal et al. (2024) conducted an extensive bibliometric analysis of a sample of 701 conceptual and empirical articles, identified dominant trends and research gaps, and highlighted emerging issues. Furthermore, Marie et al. (2024) explored how the COVID-19 pandemic affected ESG research. Based on a dataset of 340 scientific publications, their analysis revealed a significant increase in interest in ESG issues after the pandemic, with a particular focus on social responsibility, sustainability and economic impact. The authors proposed a theoretical framework for analyzing the impact of the pandemic on ESG practices, while emphasizing the importance of standardizing ESG metrics and the role of regulatory frameworks. In addition, Khaw et al. (2024) analyzed 64 studies published between 2014 and 2023, with the aim of identifying and analyzing factors influencing ESG performance. The research adopted a dual approach, combining bibliometric analysis and systematic literature review, offering a comprehensive understanding of the key factors influencing ESG performance in organizations. Finally, Petrica et al. (2024) compiled a thorough overview of the research landscape on ESG factors and their connection to various sustainability concepts, covering publications from 2009 to 2023 indexed in the Web of Science (WoS) database.

Overall, ESG is a multifaceted issue examined from various angles. Considering the limited scope of past literature reviews and the variability in conceptualizations and disciplinary approaches, this study aims to synthesize all prior ESG studies, shedding light on the current global landscape and paving the way forward. In practice, it acknowledges ESG as a compass for making informed and responsible decisions grounded in sustainable practices.

3. Methodology and Data

The present study adopts a bibliometric analysis (BA) approach to identify dominant trends and predict future research directions, a practice that is increasingly gaining acceptance in contemporary literature reviews (Mukherjee et al. 2022; Tumewang et al. 2024). The value of this method lies in its ability to transform quantitative data into qualitative data and thus help to draw better conclusions about the key aspects of the scientific field with precision and detect important changes in research priorities (Pasko et al. 2021). In contrast to traditional review methods—e.g., systematic literature reviews, where important information is often poorly reported due to the absence of a comprehensive reporting framework (Behl et al. 2022) —, BA, as highlighted by Paltrinieri et al. (2023) and Argoubi et al. (2021), offers a more reliable and efficient method for analyzing large volumes of bibliographic data, as it allows objective selection and extraction of samples. However, Block and Fisch (2020) point out that studies focusing only on authors, journals and countries, and not evaluating the development and thematic structure of the research field, are not qualified to be BA. In response, to achieve the research objective, we used an in-depth and iterative process that assesses the progress, structure, and thematic areas of the ESG academic landscape and follows similar published articles to verify and establish the reliability of the findings (Gao et al. 2021; Jain and Tripathi 2023). This helps to advance ESG research and inform the scientific community about the latest developments and challenges in the field.

BA techniques can be classified into two widely recognized categories: performance analysis and mapping of the scientific field (Aria and Cuccurullo 2017), which have provided reliable results in many studies (Khurshid and Islam 2024; Zeng et al. 2024). While science mapping shows the relationships between research components, performance analysis includes descriptive statistics that describe the contributions of research components (e.g., authors, countries, topics, organizations) (Donthu et al. 2021). Although descriptive, performance analysis is the main feature of BA, and its central contribution lies in the quantitative assessment of the impact of various research factors, thus providing a comprehensive picture of the research field (Manoj et al. 2023). As argued by Mingers and Leydesdorff (2015), performance analysis, using activity indicators, aims at evaluating the publication performance of various constituents (e.g., authors, countries, journals, articles) in a scientific domain. To assess researchers’ productivity and impact, indices such as total publications (TP) and total citations (TC) (Hirsch 2005) were used. To address the first two research questions, we adopted a performance analysis approach, considering the above-mentioned elements.

Then, in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the structure and evolution of the ESG research field, we applied scientific mapping, which allowed us to identify the main thematic areas, assess their extent, and discover emerging trends in the field (Singh et al. 2020). Specifically, we applied co-authorship and keyword analysis to explore the research field from various perspectives (Mukherjee et al. 2022). Co-authorship analysis is a tool for mapping research networks. It also provides a graphical representation of the collaborative structure of article authors (Ullah et al. 2022). We addressed the third research question through co-authorship analysis. Furthermore, to explore the conceptual structure of the topic in-depth, we proceeded with the keyword analysis in the relevant documents. The analysis is based on the assumption of co-occurrence of words as an indicator of thematic coherence and can be used to group publications into thematic sections, to graphically capture the evolution of research topics, and to highlight dominant trends in the field, thus offering a powerful background for future research (Donthu et al. 2021). In this way, we managed to answer the fourth, fifth and sixth questions.

Specifically, to address the six interrelated research questions and perform an analysis of publications, global citations, and social networks, we used: the R-Tool (Aria and Cuccurullo 2017) to describe publication developments (RQ1) and leading contributors and publications (RQ2), and the VOSviewer tool (Jan van Eck and Waltman 2020) to enrich our survey through co-authorship (RQ3), and keyword analysis to map and visualize the intellectual structure of ESG (RQ4 and RQ5) and to identify avenues for future research (RQ6). In addition, the PRISMA protocol was applied to ensure the quality and reproducibility of the present analysis (Moher et al. 2009; Tricco et al. 2018; Page et al. 2021).

The Scopus database was used to retrieve the records because it is recognized as the largest repository of quality academic research papers and performs citation analysis faster than the WοS (Joshi 2016).

The dataset collection procedure was performed on 5 January 2023. This BA addresses the ESG concept as a whole. For an accurate coverage of the underlying literature, we excluded relevant topics highlighted in previous ESG reviews (Bosi et al. 2022; Turzo et al. 2022; Grueso-Gala and Zornoza 2022), e.g., CSR, non-financial reporting and sustainability reporting. Considering this factor, the analysis of the query formulated by Gao et al. (2021) suggested that an update was necessary to align with ESG developments.

In the initial screening stage, the search query “ESG” OR “ENVIRON*SOCIAL*GOVERN*” was entered in Scopus to retrieve the information needed in the ESG section. This means that, wherever these words appeared in the title, abstract, or keywords of a paper, they were gathered for additional analysis. This procedure yielded 7088 initial results, which were further refined using the following specific criteria: (i) articles covered should be published from 2006 to 2022; (ii) publications other than journal articles, such as book chapters, conference papers, notes, etc., were excluded; (iii) only articles written in the English language were included; (iv) the category of discipline contained “Business, Management, and Accounting and “Economics, Econometrics, and Finance”, as this is the focal field of interest, in accordance with Scopus; (v) only established journals were chosen by using Academic Journal Guide 2021 and ABDC 2022 ranking lists. With these criteria, we defined the minimum level of research quality, making sure that findings derived from reliable and credible articles (Alhossini et al. 2021). Documents were then screened to determine their relevance to the topic covered. Further criteria have been applied to identify papers that explicitly mention ESG coverage, and a subsequent review of the article title, abstract and keywords has been carried out to exclude any pieces of pertinent literature that do not fall within the scope of this domain. According to Frandsen (2017) this step is considered to be critical for BA. In addition, the authors thoroughly reviewed papers in which the abstract was ambiguous. They then independently reviewed the corpus of literature to reduce the risk of bias and maintain reliability of the coding and analysis framework according to Tsalavoutas et al. (2020). Any discrepancies that occurred were then discussed and clarified, narrowing the initial sample down to 1034 articles considered sufficient for BA. Figure 1 is a summary of the search strategy for this research.

Data were then screened, downloaded to CSV Excel, and exported to VOSviewer and RStudio for analysis. All the records displaying the relevant features were exported and saved in an Excel file. The file consisted of “metadata” associated with each article, such as author names, countries, sources, keywords, etc., that were then uploaded and stored in a file named “thesaurus file”. To conduct a reliable analysis, this particular file helped clarify similar terms in the analysis. Through this archive, accuracy was improved by data cleaning, merging different variants of terms, author names, etc. (Jan van Eck and Waltman 2020). All data processing steps are illustrated in

Table 1. Bibliometric analysis techniques.

Data Selection	Data Criteria	Data Extracts
Scopus Title-ABS-Key: (“ESG” OR “ENVIRON*SOCIAL*GOVERN*”) Boolean operators AND and OR Result: 7088 documents	Subject Area: “Business, Management, and Accounting” and “Economics, Econometrics, and Finance” Document Type: Articles Language: English Years: 2006–2022 Source: Journals Final dataset: 1034 documents	Article metadata Author data Keywords Citations References CSV Excel file VOSviewer R-Biblioshiny

Notes: The flow table describes the collection of publications from Scopus index and cleaning process. Source: Prepared by authors.

, with brief descriptions and the key tools used.

4. Results and Discussion

4.1. Descriptive Analysis Results

This sub-section deploys the basic information about the research. The data summary according to the Bibliometrix R software (version 4.2.2.) includes the following: 1034 articles published in 280 journals over 16 years (2006–2022), with an annual growth rate of 49.15%, average document age of 2.93, and average citation per document of 20.82%. The results demonstrate that significant academic work has been carried out on ESG reporting by 2198 authors on a global scale. The total number of authors per paper and the co-authorship indicator are measures that reveal the collaboration between scholars (Koseoglu 2016). They stood at a noteworthy 2.65% and 25.15% respectively, while out of 1034 articles, only 183 (0.18%) were single-authored. This implies that academic cooperation in the ESG area is high.

4.2. Performance Analysis Results

This sub-section employs performance analysis, including citation and publication metrics and the most productive and prevalent research components. Five criteria were used to examine relevant documents on ESG: publication trend, contributing regions, preeminent authors and their international origins, prolific sources, and cited articles.

4.2.1. Number of Publications per Year (RQ1)

ESG contributes to the evaluation of the company’s sustainability effectiveness with the systematic coverage of environmental, social, and corporate governance efficiency (Avramov et al. 2022). The acronym was first used by the United Nations in the “Who Cares Wins” report in 2004 (UN 2004) and has since received increasing interest and recognition from the scientific community. The first conference article on ESG was by Kocmanova et al. (2006), who carried out an empirical study on the interrelationships between ESG indicators that formed the basis of sustainability reports.

Figure 2 maps the results of RQ1 and illustrates that publications related to ESG reporting have seen a marked increase in the years 2006–2022. Between 2006 and 2018, productivity exhibited a modest upward trend, with the total number of published documents per year not exceeding 100. From the results, it is observed that annual productivity remained below 49. However, after the signing of the Paris international treaty in 2016, the landscape changed. The number of publications saw a notable upward movement, reaching 402 by 2022. Sustainable development objectives, net zero carbon emissions, and responsible investment have made ESG principles a priority for companies (Biermann et al. 2017). Following the trend line, a sudden upward turn can be observed in 2019, with the annual productivity reaching 88 documents. This may be attributed to the outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis (Broadstock et al. 2021). Overall, for the period examined, the cumulative number of papers published was 1034, which indicates that ESG is becoming a vital topic of investigation in the area of sustainable finance, and highlights the importance of a responsible and flexible business model. These initial outcomes reveal that research on ESG reporting has witnessed a striking annual upsurge over the years under review, moving from a phase of “paucity” (2006–2018) to a phase of “growth” (2019–2022) and is still in progress. For the foreseeable future, it is therefore expected to remain in an exploratory growth phase.

4.2.2. Country Research Output, Impact Output (RQ2)

In response to RQ2 (sub-question a),

Table 2. Top 20 contributing countries.

Country	Documents	TC	C/D	Country	Documents	TC	C/D
USA	175	5109	29.19	South Africa	20	344	17.20
UK	102	3654	35.82	South Korea	17	76	4.47
Italy	60	1033	17.22	Switzerland	17	327	19.24
Canada	53	569	10.74	Malaysia	16	188	11.75
Germany	50	2417	48.34	Japan	15	334	22.27
Spain	48	790	16.46	Pakistan	14	185	13.21
Australia	46	1345	29.24	United Arab Emirates	14	404	28.86
China	45	433	9.62	Greece	14	303	21.64
India	44	467	10.61	Tunisia	12	202	16.83
France	37	1125	30.41	Turkey	12	409	34.08

Notes: The table reports the results for productivity and influence of each country. Abbreviations: TC = Total Citations; C/D = Citations per document. Source: Prepared by authors based on Biblioshiny.

presents the performance and impact results for the top 20 contributing countries over a 16-year period, based on 1034 articles. Of the most productive nations within the realm of ESG research according to the number of articles and citations, developed countries are among the top 20 in article production, which indicates the high concern of these countries for corporate ethics, local economic growth, and the environment. Articles published in EU member states, such as Germany, France, Italy, and Spain, received high citation numbers, indicative of the superior quality of the outputs.

Addressing the uneven geographical distribution of research on ESG reporting is one possible avenue to explore. At present, most of the contributions come from Western countries, such as the UK, Canada and the US, and only a few from Asia, with the exception of China. There is a strong presence of European countries in this area as well. Future research can focus on comparing Asian and European samples of ESG reporting in various industries to address this discrepancy. This would also be an excellent opportunity to gain insight into ESG reporting practices in different regions.

4.2.3. Analysis of the Most Prolific Contributing Authors (RQ2)

In response to RQ2 (sub-question b),

Table 3. The top 15 most prolific authors.

Author	C/D	TC	Documents	Current Affiliation
Serafeim G.	376.00	1504	4	Harvard Business School, US
Busch T.	230.75	923	4	University Hamburg, Germany
Wang Z.	125.50	502	4	Clark University, US
Orsato R.J.	71.00	284	4	Università Bocconi, Italy
Rezaee Z.	65.00	325	5	The University of Memphis, US
Managi S.	55.50	222	4	Kyushu University, Japan
Velte P.	52.80	264	5	Leuphana University, Germany
Zhang Y.	48.75	195	4	Wuhan University, China
Escrig-Olmedo E.	47.50	190	4	Universidad Jaume I, Spain
Dorfleitner G.	45.50	273	6	University of Regensburg, Germany
Crifo P.	43.60	218	5	École Polytechnique, France
Li Y.	42.14	295	7	University of Reading, UK
Umar Z.	40.50	162	4	Zayed University, United Arab Emirates
Uyar A.	38.20	191	5	Excella Business School, France
Eccles R.G.	33.75	135	4	University of Oxford, UK

Notes: This table lists the authors with the largest contribution in terms of the number of citations per document. Abbreviations: TC = Total Citations; C/D = Citations per document. Source: Prepared by authors based on Biblioshiny.

illustrates the 15 most prolific contributing authors who have published articles in peer-reviewed journals and their current affiliations from 2006 to 2022, using the citations per document as a proxy for this classification.

The most influential and well-known writer who occupies the first place in terms of number of citations is Serafeim G., while Busch T. and Wang Z. are in second and third place, respectively. Serafeim G. has produced four documents, and his citation average reaches 376. Also remarkable, although not as influential, are Rezaee Z., Velte P., Dorfleitner G., Li Y., Orsato R.J., Managi S., and Crifo P., with high research quality and citations per paper exceeding 40%.

Figure 3 plots 10 authors with the most publications in their portfolio and the citations they received. Analysis of this showed that the most influential and prominent authors have been active in research for comparatively longer periods of time. Specifically, the horizontal lines illustrate the authors’ active years, the dots depict the quantity of documents, and the color intensity reflects their citations. The fact that most of the major writers retained their creativity for comparatively more years could explain their high citation scores.

The graph also shows a dynamic change in the dominance of distinguished writers in the ESG sphere over time. Author dominance is a commonly used bibliometric measure (Hassanein and Mostafa 2023). From 2013 to 2019, Escrig-Olmedo E. emerged as the most active writer, while from 2015 to 2022, Busch T. held considerable sway. Furthermore, Dorfleitner G. dominated from 2015 to 2021, Razaee Z. from 2015 to 2020, and Velte P. from 2016 to 2020. However, new and highly influential writers also emerged, such as Managi S. (2019–2022), Eccles RG (2019–2022), and Uyar A. (2022–2022), signaling a diversification of authorial impact within the realm of ESG.

4.2.4. Journal Performances (RQ2)

In response to answer RQ2 (sub-question c),

Table 4. The leading journals associated with ESG research.

Source	Field	TC	AJG 2021	ABDC 2022	Documents
Business Strategy and the Environment	Soc Sci	2010	3	A	44
Journal of Business Ethics	Ethics-CSR-Man	1685	3	A	27
Strategic Management Journal	Strat	1421	4*	A*	2
Journal of Cleaner Production	Sector	1133	2	A	40
Journal of Corporate Finance	Finance	764	4	A*	13
Finance Research Letters	Finance	624	2	A	45
Journal of Banking and Finance	Finance	529	3	A*	9
Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal	Account	425	2	B	18
Journal of Business Research	Ethics-CSR-Man	386	3	A	13
British Accounting Review	Finance	384	3	A*	3
Global Finance Journal	Finance	373	2	A	10
Journal of Asset Management	Finance	367	2	B	22
Financial Analysts Journal	Finance	314	3	A	8
Management Decision	Ethics-CSR-Man	282	2	B	9
Economic Modelling	Econ	273	2	A	4
Journal of Financial Economics	Finance	266	4*	A*	6
The Journal of Portfolio Management	Finance	265	3	A	34
Business and Society	Ethics-CSR-Man	250	3	A	5
Research in International Business and Finance	Finance	224	2	B	12
Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal	Finance	217	3	A*	5

Notes: This table tabulates 20 prominent journals ranked as 4*, 4, 3, 2 in the AJG (Academic Journal Guide) 2021 list, and A*, A, B in the ABDC list, respectively, categorized by the highest number of citations received. Abbreviation: TC = Total Citations. Source: Prepared by authors based on Biblioshiny.

depicts the distribution of the most important journals covering the period from 2006 to 2022. The Finance Research Letters journal tops the list of productivity with 45 publications, while the journals Business Strategy and the Environment and Journal of Cleaner Production hold second and third place, respectively. This is not surprising, since the most investigated subjects of these journals are sustainable finance, environment, and CSR. Among the top 20 journals, Business Strategy and the Environment and Journal of Business Ethics ranked first and second, respectively, in terms of number of citations. The most productive journals, however, were generally not considered to be the most influential. Of particular interest is the Strategic Management Journal, which, despite having only two publications, has 1421 citations, with the most cited article being that by Cheng et al. (2014) (

Table 5. Top 10 seminal articles.

Paper	Authors	TC	TCY
Corporate social responsibility and access to finance	(Cheng et al. 2014)	1268	126.80
ESG and financial performance: aggregated evidence from more than 2000 empirical studies	(Friede et al. 2015)	632	70.22
ESG performance and firm value: The moderating role of disclosure	(Fatemi et al. 2018)	241	40.17
Socially responsible funds and market crises	(Nofsinger and Varma 2014)	225	22.50
Corporate social responsibility governance, outcomes, and financial performance	(Wang and Sarkis 2017)	217	31.00
The impact of environmental, social, and governance disclosure on firm value: The role of CEO power	(Li et al. 2018)	212	35.33
Corporate social responsibility and financial performance: A non-linear and disaggregated approach	(Nollet et al. 2016)	211	26.38
Why and How Investors Use ESG Information: Evidence from a Global Survey	(Amel-Zadeh and Serafeim 2018)	210	35.00
Diversity of Board of Directors and Environmental Social Governance: Evidence from Italian Listed Companies	(Cucari et al. 2018)	198	33.00
Do environmental, social, and governance activities improve corporate financial performance?	(Xie et al. 2019)	185	37.00

Notes: This table is sorted based on TC to find 10 influential topics in the ESG literature. Abbreviations: TC = Total Citations; TCY = Total Citations per Year. Source: Prepared by authors based on Biblioshiny.

).

Journal performance findings are useful for a number of stakeholders. They suggest key research outlets to practitioners and researchers in order to keep abreast of the newest developments. Many of these journals are in the fields of “finance” and “Ethics-CSR-Management”, and have 4*, 4 and 3 in the Academic Journal Guide 2021 rating, which indicates that they were all subjected to strict peer review and have been recognized by the scientific community for unique and well-executed studies with a significant contribution to the field of ESG. Productivity and influence indicators can help budding researchers identify in which journal it is suitable to publish their research. In this sense, Business Strategy and the Environment was found to be the best choice for publication, as it had the highest productivity (44) and citation (2010) rates.

Overall, the prominence of these journals reflects the growing importance of the triple ESG concept dedicated to corporate strategy, sustainable practices and ethical considerations.

4.2.5. The Most Cited Global Publications (RQ2)

In response to RQ2 (sub-question d), Table 5 illustrates the classification of the main authors and publications contributing to ESG research over a 16-year period. It is worth noting that all 10 articles have over 180 citations. An article released in 2014 by Cheng, Ioannou and Serafeim deserves special mention, as it is the most frequently cited. Their article Corporate social responsibility and access to finance is particularly popular, as it has caught the interest of several readers and has been cited 1268 times. The second place belongs to Friede et al. (2015), who focus their interest on the link between ESG and corporate financial performance (CFP) by combining data from 2200 studies.

4.3. Science Mapping

4.3.1. Co-Authorship Analysis of ESG Countries (RQ3)

Figure 4 illustrates the findings related to RQ3. This figure shows an overview of the cross-country co-authorship, while depicting the overall mapping of publications in different regions. Areas shown in a larger circle are those that have published the most articles. Of the 81 regions that wrote about ESG, 48 had at least five articles to their credit.

In addition, the visual chart helps us to understand how these regions cooperate with each other. Two broad observations can be made: the US is the most productive country in writing, while China is the country that is the most sought after for cooperation. Specifically, based on the size of the node, it is evident that the US is particularly active in writing, collaborating with many countries. The thickness of the line indicates the frequency of the co-authorship, meaning that the US cooperates more intensively with the UK, Canada, China, and Australia. Similarly, the UK is working vigorously in the area of article writing with the rest of the world, and its collaboration is not only concentrated in European countries such as France, Germany, Italy, and Ireland, but extends to Asian countries such as China and India. In contrast, a smaller number of co-authorship collaborations can be seen in regions like Lithuania, Estonia, Romania, Czech Republic, and Brazil. Moreover, Australia and Canada prefer to collaborate with China.

4.3.2. Keywords Analysis (RQ4)

Keyword analysis provides insights into the search trends displayed in a journal, as keywords can reveal authors’ research interests (Liu et al. 2012). More specifically, keyword co-occurrence analysis is frequently used in bibliometric studies (Gaviria-Marin et al. 2019), to display the most frequent keywords and the relationships between them. The size of the node reveals the importance of a keyword; the larger size means that the keyword appears in more searches. The connection between the nodes and the number of articles in which the linked keywords co-occur is captured by the length and width of the line connecting them: shorter distances and thicker lines indicate a close and strong bond, respectively (Jan van Eck and Waltman 2020).

In this part of the study, a co-occurrence analysis was carried out on the most frequently used author keywords in the articles (Figure 5). Utilizing the VOSviewer platform, the authors set the threshold of 10 keyword occurrences to investigate the most popular author keywords in the original set of 2417. The result showed that only 48 keywords met the threshold. Six clusters were identified as dominant trends for the particular topic, illustrated with different colors (RQ4).

In the Thesaurus file, the terms “ESG” and “corporate social responsibility” occurred 320 and 211 times, respectively. The keywords “environment”, “sustainability”, “corporate governance”, and “socially responsible investment” appeared fairly often in the 1034 records. The main co-occurrences consisted of the CSR concept in blue and the term ESG in green. Both nodes connected to a huge number of related minor terms. For instance, CSR was most noticeably connected with “corporate governance”, “gender diversity” and “transparency”. ESG was strongly associated with “socially responsible investing”, “sustainable investing” and “ESG investing”.

The co-occurrences in purple centered on the concept of “sustainability” and included “firm value” and “firm performance”. Two more co-occurrences emerged, representing subgenres of the literature examined, “ESG performance”, “financial performance” and “sustainable finance” (in red) and “ESG disclosure”, “green washing” and “performance” (in yellow). In-depth analysis generated six clusters that summarize the topical foci within the research field:

Cluster 1 (red): The key topics of this cluster focused on “ESG performance”, “financial performance” and “corporate social performance”, “sustainable finance”, “ESG factors” and “stakeholders theory”, emphasizing the significance of the ESG concept and its various impacts, much like cluster 5 in Gao et al. (2021). While inconclusive, with some research indicating negative effects (Velte 2017; Garcia and Orsato 2020), most academic work maintains that ESG practices can benefit stakeholders. ESG performance and ESG factors can lead to positive developments within companies, according to Whelan et al. (2021) and Khalid et al. (2022). Similarly, the study conducted by Carnini Pulino et al. (2022) corroborates the aforementioned findings. In addition to shareholder value, financial sustainability is crucial, especially for risk-averse investors because it limits the risks of refinancing and insolvency and improves the returns in a tight and expensive capital market (Gleißner et al. 2022). Therefore, in order to demonstrate their superior performance and differentiate themselves in the eyes of their stakeholders, higher sustainability performers disclose more sustainable development goals (Nicolo’ et al. 2023). As a reflection of a good society, good ESG performance will be a comparative advantage for companies and investors (Serafeim and Yoon 2022). These results illuminate ESG’s multifaceted nature, its influence on financial and social performance, and the importance of contextual factors, like ESG factors, in shaping its impact on stakeholders.

Cluster 2 (green): The content of this cluster is reminiscent of cluster 1 of Gao et al. (2021) and stands as evidence of the evolving ESG investment landscape. Some of the most important findings from the literature concern “socially responsible investing (SRI)”, “ESG investing”, “ESG rating” (terms that complement each other), “COVID-19”, “climate change”, “risk management” and “portfolio theory”. Sustainable investing in enterprises which incorporates the three pillars, environmental, social and governance, is key to the decision-making process (Harper 2020; Christensen et al. 2022). When companies provide an ESG report, rating agencies can more accurately assess the companies’ ESG performance, and investors can more confidently rely on ESG ratings to guide practice (Amel-Zadeh and Serafeim 2018). Improving ESG reports and evaluation and developing regulatory, supervisory and self-regulatory frameworks are essential to advancing ESG investing (Giner and Luque-Vílchez 2022). Amid concerns about COVID-19 and climate change, demand for sustainable investments is growing despite the economic slowdown. To mitigate such adverse circumstances, research finds that better ESG performance is needed, not better quantity or quality of ESG reporting (Arvidsson and Dumay 2022). In a similar vein, Brogi et al. (2022) argue that a high score of ESG awareness can improve risk management and minimize the credit risk of a company. Finally, portfolio theory is likely to find wide application for ESG investing, and a hot research topic, both currently and in the future, is the critical role of portfolio construction in this domain (Pedersen et al. 2021).

Cluster 3 (dark blue): The topics presented in this group mainly center on CSR, much like cluster 3 in Gao et al. (2021). Key findings in this cluster refer to “corporate governance”, “disclosure” and “transparency”, which, interchangeably with CSR, are mainly used to describe corporate activities that manage and control a company’s social and environmental responsibilities and impacts. Doh et al. (2009) highlight that CSR does not harmonize or comply with regulations and legal requirements. This means that CSR strategies are often not compulsory, although they can be market-driven (Kitzmueller and Shimshack 2012), with the main objective of maintaining social welfare and enhancing the sustainability of business activities. Furthermore, CSR can help or hurt shareholders. It is characterized as a flexible business model that includes a wide range of ESG activities and transparency strategies that indicate the measurement and communication of information about CSR or ESG policies and risks (Singh et al. 2024). CSR strategies make companies resilient so as to overcome any difficulties in times of health crises, and improve the willingness of customers to cooperate (Boubaker et al. 2022).

This cluster also links gender diversity to ESG. For instance, De Masi et al. (2021) underscore that having women on the board significantly improves ESG disclosure. Overall, the findings highlight how ESG actions and board gender diversity influence the dynamic nature of CSR philosophy.

Cluster 4 (yellow): The fourth topical area includes topics such as “ESG disclosures”, “performance”, “greenwashing”, “materiality” and “sustainability reporting”. Disclosing information is the integration of environmental, social and governance reporting into both investment and corporate decision-making procedures. Rather than viewing ESG data points as separate from traditional financial analysis, integration recognizes its materiality and mixes these two. According to Gebhardt et al. (2023) integration aims to identify and manage the risks and opportunities associated with ESG disclosures, with the ultimate goal of enhancing sustainable development and adhering to regulations set by governments and investment institutions. Furthermore, Pizzi et al. (2022) emphasize the need to consider cultural factors in policy-making in order to encourage companies to disclose their contributions to the 2030 Agenda. However, ESG disclosure may not always be a sign of conforming to regulations and displaying social responsibility. According to Zhang (2022), greenwashing behavior may be due to the economic environment, as firms’ greenwashing activities are related to economic limitations. Li et al. (2020) point out that firms that report ESG disclosures and have high ESG performance may not really undertake social responsibility and are equally likely to receive funding for reputational gain or greenwashing. Yu et al. (2020) study greenwashing in ESG disclosures and conclude that organizations manipulate ESG parameters to maximize market value. While these concerns exist, effectively incorporating ESG disclosures can lead to long-term value creation, risk management and stakeholder trust. Adapting a strong ESG philosophy needs transparency, careful planning and continuous evaluation to minimize possible unwanted effects and ensure sustainable development.

Cluster 5 (purple): The concepts identified in this set of keywords mainly revolve around “sustainability”, “firm value” and “firm performance”. A favorable relationship between ESG scores and firm value appears in the greater part of the existing literature. For example, Fatemi et al. (2018) examined the moderating impact of ESG scores on the link between ESG factors and firm value. The results showed that these scores can moderate the adverse effect of ESG weaknesses and enhance the positive influence of ESG strengths. Research on S&P 500 companies underlines that ESG effects on company value are more significant and positive for larger companies and negative for smaller companies (Minutolo et al. 2019). A few studies reported a negative link between corporate conflicts and firm performance (Nirino et al. 2021). Future studies of the various moderators and mediators may have a more in-depth understanding of this relationship (Abdi et al. 2022).

Cluster 6 (light blue): Key findings in this cluster concern the keywords “environment”, “social”, “governance”, and “corporate sustainability”, which delineate the association between CSR and ESG. The concept of CSR was introduced by the European Union in 2001. ESG has evolved from CSR, a concept that is both related to its predecessor and distinct from it (Cini and Ricci 2018). CSR depends on effective corporate governance, which serves as its strategic base. By strengthening corporate governance policies, enterprises can fundamentally drive continuous improvement in environmental and social impact and ultimately achieve stable and long-term performance. Research by Lu and Wang (2021) shows that corporate governance best practices have positive impacts on companies’ environmental performance and ESG reporting.

4.3.3. Evolution of the Six ESG Groups (RQ5)

Figure 6 represents the results of the mapping analysis and shows the period during which the research was carried out (RQ5). The horizontal multicolor bar on the lower right side indicates the years the colors correspond to, with blue reflecting the early years and green and yellow depicting the later ones. The line between the keywords reflects subjects studied in conjunction, while the density of the line shows the intensity and strength of their relation. The size of the node indicates the significance of the label. For instance, the environment appears to have a greater impact than financial performance. The color of the name demonstrates the year the subject stems from. So, the light green group contains governance, sustainable investing, risk management research studies published around 2020. The highest frequency keywords appear in the years 2016 to 2019. Namely, ESG and ESG rating exploded in popularity and began to attract the attention of authors in 2021, with other research topics such as SRI and CSR appearing around 2017 and 2019, respectively.

4.3.4. Future Research Directions (RQ6)

Figure 6 also demonstrates the profundity of research in certain regions of ESG. The large dots show that the research around the specific topic is on the rise (Jan van Eck and Waltman 2020). Thus, the less frequently occurring keywords appear in small size, which implies that the research topic needs more investigation and therefore may constitute a topic for future research. Some examples of such keywords are ESG score and ESG ratings, climate change, greenwashing and board gender diversity.

Based on the findings of the keyword analysis, the following future research avenues are suggested. First: requirements of ESG scores of corporate information. Requiring companies to report ESG scores is becoming the current norm in the 21st century (Turzo et al. 2022). As mentioned in the introduction, regulators have gradually tightened the requirements for ESG scores of corporate information, which are expected to become the global standard for non-financial disclosure (NFD) in the years to come. A further examination of ESG scores from the perspective of different stakeholders, such as institutional investors, financial institutions and auditors, can provide more valuable insights into the use of ESG information. In addition, the study of the impact of ESG scores in specific industries/economies will help to tailor sustainability practices to the needs of these sectors (Baldini et al. 2018).

Second: the link between ESG ratings and environmental protection. As the planet’s climate and environment are constantly changing, companies face various losses due to natural disasters. Thus, the business market has gradually become knowledgeable of the importance of protecting the environment and has started to adopt various environmental policies. Strict reporting standards that encourage companies to reveal quantitative information about their ecological footprint (e.g., gas emissions) and the extent to which climate change affects their activities are significant, according to the 2021 Glasgow Pact. To this end, the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) was established with the primary objective of developing rigorous criteria to ensure comparability, transparency and sustainability reporting (Baboukardos et al. 2024). Observing the performance of an organization’s environmental rating enables investors and managers to deal with environmental hazards more effectively. This will also motivate companies to invest in environmental protection more. In short, disclosure of environmental data supports an organization’s sustainability policy and constitutes a competitive advantage in today’s sustainability-driven marketplace (Acar and Temiz 2020).

How policymakers and regulators set common standards for ESG disclosure assurance can be explored in future research. Further, studies can also focus on how assurance varies across countries, industries and companies, as well as the perceived value of ESG assurance. Providing verifiable and transparent information on environmental performance not only builds public image but also strengthens stakeholder trust.

Third: the future influence of ESG scores in the investment sector. Transparent and accurate ESG information will help investors to integrate ESG risk assessment into their investment plans. Companies showing high ESG scores have the potential to attract investors, and therefore, ESG may well influence their capital structure. Future research could investigate how ESG disclosure affects investment in green companies. Little is known about the contribution of ESG to investment in green bonds or green assets, and whether sustainability disclosure enhances liquidity in green bond markets. The conditions under which green funds can have an impact on society and the market also can be studied (Yan et al. 2021).

Fourth: specific aspects of corporate sustainability. To gain deeper insight into corporate sustainability practices, future research could delve into board characteristics such as nationality and education (Crifo et al. 2019; Ghardallou 2022). Exploring the impact of women directors on different types of NFD provides insight into the impact of gender diversity on sustainability reporting and performance (Bravo and Reguera-Alvarado 2019). Eventually, ESG ratings will support corporate governance reform. Due to the growing importance that asset managers place on ESG factors, many measures have been proposed to restore corporate governance. Asset managers are particularly interested in issues such as board membership renewal and gender diversity. Beyond the diversity of board members, organizations and investors are interested in diversity across organizational levels. Companies consider it important and seek equal opportunities, incentives, and equal pay for equal work. Therefore, an interesting area that may motivate scholars for further research is examining the relationship between ESG and corporate governance attributes (e.g., board characteristics, independence of the boards, and CEO’s perceptions). Recent studies are often based on quantitative analysis using ESG data from third-party sources. Unexplored variables affecting ESG disclosure may be revealed by qualitative data on CEO perceptions.

Fifth: the relationship between firm characteristics (e.g., size) and ESG performance. From one point of view, Tamimi and Sebastianelli (2017) argue that firm characteristics and ESG performance only focused on large-sized companies. From another perspective, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are still in need of more attention from regulators and the scientific community (Yu and Luu 2021). Based on the above dispute, it will be interesting to examine whether SMEs are prone to ESG greenwashing (Khan 2022). In order to recognize and mitigate this phenomenon, it would be noteworthy to combine machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques in relation to greenwashing or examine greenwashing in the context of sustainability reporting (Moodaley and Telukdarie 2023).

Based on the results of the co-authorship and performance analyses, multiple perspectives emerge for future investigation. First, the dominance of the US, the UK, and EU member states in ESG research suggests an opportunity to broaden the scope of studies to underrepresented regions such as Latin America, Africa, and certain parts of Asia. Future research should focus on understanding how different economic, social, and regulatory environments impact the adoption and implementation of ESG policies in these regions. This could also include comparative studies between developed and developing economies to assess how ESG practices differ across contexts. Since the Asia Pacific region is beginning to show interest in ESG research, future studies could explore the factors driving this growing involvement. This includes examining how regulatory frameworks, cultural contexts, and economic developments in countries like China, Japan, and Australia influence their approach to ESG. Research could also focus on how these emerging contributors compare with established ESG practices in the US, UK, and EU.

Moreover, the positive correlation between ESG disclosure and financial performance highlighted in the study presents a foundation for further research into the specific mechanisms and factors driving this relationship. Future studies could investigate which elements of ESG disclosure (e.g., environmental initiatives, governance practices, or social policies) are most strongly associated with improved financial outcomes and sustainable investments (Delegkos et al. 2022; Xanthopoulou et al. 2024). This could help businesses prioritize certain aspects of their ESG strategies for better financial and reputational returns.

With research productivity peaking in 2022, it is crucial to continue monitoring emerging themes beyond that period. New trends in ESG, particularly in response to recent regulatory changes, technological advancements, or shifts in consumer expectations, could reveal whether the established research streams persist or if new directions are taking shape. Topics such as the intersection of ESG with artificial intelligence, climate tech innovations, or evolving social standards could form the basis of future research.

The study identifies ESG scores as a key thematic category. Future research could investigate how the accuracy, reliability, and standardization of ESG scoring systems affect investment decisions and risk management. This could involve developing more sophisticated models for assessing ESG performance, considering sector-specific metrics, or analyzing the impact of regulatory frameworks on scoring consistency across regions and industries.

Our longitudinal analysis highlights the recent transition from a “slow” phase to an exploratory, developmentally flexible phase in exploring new and alternative thematic issues and suggests that future studies have much to contribute to the literature.

5. Conclusions

Prompted by the need for a clear definition and understanding of the ESG concept, the present study sought to locate thematic patterns in the literature and to identify potential knowledge gaps. While the period 2006–2018 was characterized by limited research productivity in the field, a gradual increase in publications was observed from 2019 onwards, peaking in 2022 with 1034 articles. This significant recovery indicates a transformative period for the field, reflecting the important role ESG practices play in adapting to emerging environmental (e.g., global climate change) and social values (e.g., gender diversity, greenwashing). This trend reflects a dynamic field, where environmental concerns are increasingly integrated into investment decisions, highlighting the importance of ESG factors in shaping financial strategies that keep pace with evolving social and environmental values. Overall, this research promotes a holistic approach to developing sustainable and socially responsible business practices in the ever-evolving ESG landscape. Furthermore, this analysis concludes that there is a positive correlation between a company’s ESG disclosure and better performance and sustainable investment, corroborating Buallay et al. (2022).

Four further observations can be made with regard to our research findings. One is that, concerning the geographic distribution of ESG publications, the most dominant countries with extensive contributions were the US, the UK, and EU member states, while some institutions in the Asia Pacific region are starting to show interest in the research area. The relevant literature would be significantly enriched with research stemming from other regions as well, regions that at this point in time are under-represented.

Second, our cluster structure seems to corroborate Gao et al. (2021), who found similar ESG-related themes, two concept-related (focused on ESG philosophy and CSR), and three performance-related ones (environmental and social impact, criteria and financial performance and risk management). Since our data collection span included two years beyond theirs (2020–2022), years of heightened research productivity, the fact that we found similar results could suggest persistence of the observed research streams.

Third, of the six clusters that emerged, four include the concept of “ESG” and its variants. The fact that the term “sustainable” is present in five out of the six sets of keywords highlights that the term is central to the researched topic.

Fourth, we identify and elaborate five thematic categories of ESG research (e.g., ESG scores, environmentalism, investment growth, corporate sustainability, and firm characteristics). Based on the findings, we provide an orientation for broadening the scope of research coverage.

All in all, this paper presents a retrospective picture of the magnitude of ESG across different scientific disciplines, thus enriching the domain’s global relevance. First, it outlines an overview of the most important subjects in this academic discourse and their evolution over the past 16 years. It then presents a detailed picture of ESG research productivity and influence. Finally, it offers insights regarding further investigation and has implications for researchers, market practitioners and regulatory authorities.

Creating clusters and analyzing their content allowed us to identify where research is headed and provide a useful resource that can help scholars new to ESG philosophy to plan their research activities. At the same time, significant implications can be drawn for firms, as well as policymakers and regulatory authorities.

Regarding firms, an important finding is the study’s confirmation of a positive correlation between ESG disclosure and improved financial performance and investment. Our results suggest that firms with robust and transparent ESG reporting may not only enhance their reputation but also attract more sustainable investments. This provides managers with a clear incentive to prioritize ESG strategies as part of their long-term business plans. A second important finding concerns the relevance and weight of ESG factors by industry and region; firms should customize their ESG strategies to reflect their unique environmental, social, and governance contexts.

An implication for regulatory authorities relates to the regional concentration of ESG research and policy development, which suggests a need for greater global standardization of ESG regulations and reporting frameworks. Policymakers and regulatory authorities could work towards establishing universal ESG guidelines that apply across different regions to ensure consistency and comparability in corporate ESG disclosures and reduce the discrepancies between different regional standards. Efforts to establish universal ESG criteria could help mitigate issues like greenwashing and encourage a more widespread adoption of responsible business practices.

Our findings will also help market practitioners understand the effectiveness, advantages, and challenges of engaging in ESG practices and/or promoting ESG as a disclosure channel. This will enhance their awareness of the impact of ESG disclosure and enable them to better prepare their strategies. Furthermore, because of the importance of academic research for practitioners, decision-makers may be interested in similar analyses, in order to understand research trends in sustainability and identify the most productive countries for the development of research and innovation activities.

Investors should be cautious about firms that might engage in greenwashing by superficially enhancing their ESG credentials without substantive action. The study’s insights suggest that robust due diligence in evaluating the authenticity of a company’s ESG practices can help investors avoid reputational and financial risks associated with greenwashing. This aligns with the broader trend towards responsible and sustainable investing.

Finally, policymakers in regions where ESG research and practice are underrepresented (e.g., Latin America, Africa, and parts of Asia) could use these findings to promote the adoption of ESG frameworks by creating supportive regulatory environments and incentives for companies to engage in sustainable practices. Governments can also encourage local academic and research institutions to participate in ESG research, contributing to the global knowledge base and ensuring that these regions are better represented.

Our study has some limitations. To avoid duplications, data were extracted only from the Scopus database. Additionally, our sample encompassed only articles written in English, and used VOSviewer and Biblioshiny techniques for analysis. Other platforms, such as Google Scholar and WoS, can also be used for bibliometric analysis because they allow users to acquire, analyze, and disseminate database information. By incorporating these databases, more valuable and interesting insights might be obtained. Different tools like Pajek, BibExcel, Citespace, Histcite, etc. could also assist in identifying bibliographic data, visualizing, and analyzing trends and patterns in the research literature. The selection of keywords was carried out exclusively with an emphasis on the topic of the study. In addition, the literature on CSR can be considered alongside the ESG philosophy. Finally, our data collection concluded in January 2023 and since then, more studies have been carried out that should be included in future reviews.