Past, present, and future of knowledge management for business sustainability

Knowledge management has gained increasing importance and immense research interest for its promise in advancing sustainability. Despite its proliferation in the literature, little is known about the research profile of knowledge management research intertwined with sustainability. Given this gap, this article aims to conduct an extensive review of knowledge management for sustainability research. Using bibliometrics, which is suitable for large-scale reviews, this article reviews 1136 documents published in peer-reviewed journals indexed in the Web of Science between 2001 and 2021. Noteworthily, the review sheds light on the performance of research constituents (e.g., most prolific authors, countries, institutions, and journals), as well as the themes and topics underpinning the intellectual structure (i.e., knowledge foundation, knowledge creation) in the field. Specifically, the review reveals that knowledge management for sustainability research has relied on nine foundational clusters (i.e., informed sustainability practice, social network, firm performance, knowledge sharing culture, green innovation, sustainability assessment framework, global warming, knowledge management, and innovative performance) to generate new knowledge across 10 thematic clusters, (i.e., ecological knowledge, green innovation, the Shanghai Hongqiao district effect, the Agroscope Research Master Plan, food security, sustainable supply chain management, business sustainability, knowledge creation, knowledge management, and technology management). The article concludes with a new theory that encapsulates extant understanding of knowledge management for sustainability along with promising avenues for future research.