Determinants of environmental social and governance (ESG) performance: A systematic literature review

Understanding the determinants of firms’ ESG performance is not only a key goal of the strategic management f ield, but it is also fundamental for addressing the world’s most pressing environmental and social challenges and guarantee the survival of ESG as well. To date, no comprehensive overview has been carried out of the determinants that have the greatest impact on ESG criteria. In this work, internal and external determinants are identified and analysed, and the potential causes of the discrepancies in research findings are explored. This Systematic Literature Review was developed in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines, whose process led to a content analysis of the results. The current study proves that the discrepancies in literature findings are a direct consequence of the lack of consideration by scholars of the different usage of ESG data providers as well as the variance among countries. Not only does this study represent the first pioneering framework on the topic, but it could also serve as a guidebook for firms wishing to improve their ESG performance.