A Research and Education Agenda Based on a Bibliometric Analysis of CSR and ESG Reporting

Abstract

Gathering data and communicating stories about corporate social responsibility (CSR), and environmental, social and governance (ESG) activities have been increasingly essential for both organizations and governments, especially when formal responses and policies to climate change have become central if not mandatory in many contexts. Such responsible contribution to the broader social and ecological resilience in response to climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic needs to be both substantial and explicit. To formulate a research and education agenda across relevant disciplines, the paper presents findings of a bibliometric analysis of 1391 articles from the Web of Science database, revealing the intellectual and disciplinary compositions of the state-of-art research. Several disciplinary developments have been identified, along with the existing and emerging cross-disciplinary collaboration. Future work must be advanced across disciplines such as accounting, management, public relations, communications, public administration, and social data science, to leverage the information and communication technologies to account for ESG data and records as the essential groundwork for a carbon-neutral or net-zero future. A preliminary research and education agenda is then proposed to improve the CSR and ESG practices, as the groundwork for organizations to engage stakeholders such as consumers, clients, investors, professionals, and regulators.