ESG investments, corporate reputation and market value: a comprehensive review and future research agenda

Purpose Investments in environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues have a big impact on how much sustainable development efforts are made by businesses. This study analyzed the Scopus database contains information from 429 research papers published in 133 journals between 2010 and June 2023. Design/methodology/approach The current state and potential future directions of research on ESG, corporate reputation and market value were investigated through a thorough literature review and bibliometric analysis. Data search was performed based on identification, screening and included studies for the analysis. Findings We found that there has been a significant growth in the number of publications on ESG, corporate reputation and market value since the term “ESG” was first used in 2006, with the number of publications tripling annually as of 2017. To emphasize the importance and trends of ESG investments, this study presents major findings from the previous fourteen years. In addition to the analysis of authors, citations, journals, institutions and countries, there were four clusters identified, which are the role of corporate governance in corporate social responsibility, ESG and corporate performance; the relevancy of sustainability reporting in corporate reputation and firm value; regulatory frameworks in enhancing ESG and business development within financial services; and ESG criteria and corporate performance. Originality/value This study advances our understanding of ESG by analyzing published papers, performing content analysis, identifying research gaps and examining prospective areas for additional research.