What’s past is prologue: reminiscing research on environment social governance (ESG) disclosures

Abstract

Over recent years, researchers have contributed empirically and conceptually to environmental social and governance (ESG) disclosure research. This study aims to review and conduct a performance analysis with scientific mapping of significant contributors to ESG disclosure research. This review is a domain-based review that employs the bibliometric analysis technique. To holistically and comprehensively analyse past literature on ESG disclosure and address the research objectives, the study merged the data obtained from Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) databases. In doing this, the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses protocol was followed. The scientific production shows a traditional overlap between the two databases (Scopus and WoS), as about 28% of the articles were indexed in both databases. Analysis reveals that research on ESG disclosure is gradually evolving. A remarkable growth in publications from 2018 onwards was observed. Initial years of research on ESG disclosure centred around corporate governance and corporate disclosure, which gradually shifted to its impacts on sustainability. The present study identifies authors, institutions, countries, and journals with the highest contributions to ESG disclosure research. This study further highlights the field’s conceptual, intellectual, and social patterns. More importantly, this review suggests the scope for enquiries by future researchers. Few studies report the ESG disclosure phenomena. This study is unique as it analyses literature on ESG disclosure by combining and analysing results from two prominent databases, Scopus and WoS. This study explores key contributions to ESG disclosure research, highlights the knowledge foundation, and suggests scopes for future research. While analysing knowledge structures is significant to ongoing researchers, performance analysis of contributors will guide new researchers.