Open research questions in Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting

What the literature leaves open

• While stakeholder and institutional pressures account for convergence in SDG selection, they are insufficient to explain differences in reporting depth.

  Materiality, Non-Financial Reporting and SDGs Integration: A Critical Analysis of Corporate Practices from the PSI Index · 2026 · DOI

• Companies should enhance the quality and transparency of their ESG disclosures in annual and sustainability reports. Detailed, measurable, and verified disclosures will boost a company's credibility with stakeholders and improve its reputation.  6549 The Effect of ESG Disclosure, Green Investment, and Board Gender Diversity on Corporate Reputation) (Razaq et al. eISSN 3063-802X & pISSN 3063-8011 Businesses should incorporate ESG practices into their business strategies and corporate communications. ESG practices should be seen not just as compliance or philanthropy but as a core component of a strategy to generate long-term value.

  The Effect of ESG Disclosure, Green Investment, and Board Gender Diversity on Corporate Reputation · 2026 · DOI

• 2 Research Limitations The limitations of this study are associated with the sample size and the duration of the observation period, particularly for companies included in the Sri-Kehati Index and those measured using disclosure index-based metrics, which may not fully capture the substantive quality of sustainability implementation.

  Corporate Governance Quality's Moderating Effect on Profitability, ESG Disclosure, and Green Innovation · 2026 · DOI

• Agenda _________ _ Jurnal Akademi Akuntansi, Vol. 9 No. 3, p. 506-530, 2026 525 sustainability research is becoming more concerned with the alignment between sustainability claims and actual performance. As argued by Delmas & Burbano (2011), greenwashing emerges when firms communicate environmental commitments without corresponding substantive improvements, creating an important theoretical tension between legitimacyseeking behavior and genuine sustainability transformation. The niche themes quadrant, including corporate sustainability and innovation, represents areas with strong conceptual development but weaker integration with the broader sustainability–performance framework. This indicates that future research should further operationalize these concepts by identifying specific mechanisms linking sustainability strategies with accounting-based and market-based outcomes. Similarly, the relatively limited presence of emerging themes does not indicate declining relevance of earlier sustainability concepts; rather, it reflects conceptual transformation. Broad CSR discussions are increasingly incorporated into more measurable constructs such as ESG performance, sustainability disclosure, environmental outcomes, and responsible innovation. Overall, RQ4 demonstrates that the SBP–performance literature has progressed from a responsibility-oriented paradigm toward a measurement- and capability-oriented paradigm. Mature themes such as CSR and firm performance provide the conceptual foundation, while green innovation and environmental performance represent the current engines of theoretical development. Meanwhile, ESG disclosure and sustainability reporting function as critical mechanisms connecting sustainability practices with external evaluation and financial value creation. Therefore, future research should move beyond direct sustainability– performance relationships and focus on mechanisms, credibility, institutional context, and measurement quality, particularly regarding how firms convert sustainability commitments into verifiable and economically valuable outcomes. DISCUSSION The findings demonstrate that the SBP–performance literature has undergone a significant intellectual transformation rather than merely an expansion of research topics. The field initially developed around CSR, corporate responsibility, and stakeholder-oriented perspectives, before moving toward financial performance, corporate governance, ESG disclosure, green innovation, and sustainability reporting. This transition reflects a shift from a normative view of sustainability as a corporate responsibility toward a strategic and measurement-oriented perspective that examines how sustainability generates economic value.

  A bibliometric study on sustainable business practices and firm performance in global research · 2026 · DOI

• Future research could examine ESG reporting in emerging markets, explore the individual components of ESG reporting, investigate the long-term effects through extended longitudinal studies, and examine the role of corporate governance mechanisms in shaping ESG disclosure quality.

  The Impact of ESG Reporting Quality on Firm Financial Performance: A Comparative Analysis of the UK and New Zealand Markets · 2026 · DOI

• Although environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices are widely examined, their impact on firm efficiency remains unclear, with mixed findings across contexts.

  Business Strategy as a Moderator of the <scp>ESG</scp> ‐Efficiency Relationship in Global Energy Companies · 2026 · DOI

• Importantly, the existing literature has disproportionately focused on environmental performance outcomes, whereas the qualitative dimensions of environmental disclosure, including readability, tone, specificity, and potential greenwashing, remain largely underexplored.

  How Political Connections Shape Corporate Sustainability: A Systematic Review and Integrative Framework for Future Research Directions · 2026 · DOI

• In the information disclosure path, the reporting system has upgraded from qualitative descriptions without standards to quantitative reports that simultaneously benchmark against GRI, TCFD, and ISSB.

  The Impact of Green Finance Reform and Innovation Pilot Zone Policy on Corporate ESG Performance: A Case Study of Huayou Cobalt · 2026 · DOI

• ABSTRACT While the majority of extant studies often view corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a singular concept and examine its impact on firm performance, the distinct effects of internal and external CSR on firms' sustainable performance (SP)—environmental performance (EP) and financial performance (FP) remain underexplored in business strategy and sustainability literature.

  When Does <scp>CSR</scp> Pay Off? The Role Media Coverage and Internal Controls Play in Turning <scp>CSR</scp> Into Sustainable Performance · 2026 · DOI

• This study is one of the first to examine how financing costs and governance jointly impact ESG outcomes in Southeast Asian firms, which are still underexplored.

  Financing cost and ESG performance: the role of sustainability committees as governance enablers among Southeast Asian firms · 2026 · DOI

• Based on these limitations, future research is recommended to expand the scope of research objects by involving companies from various industrial sectors and extending the observation period to provide a more comprehensive picture. In fact, there are various other factors that may play a role in shaping and influencing corporate reputation, but have not been analyzed in this study.

  Biodiversity Accounting Disclosure, Climate Governance, and Environmental Risk Management: Their Effect on Corporate Reputation · 2026 · DOI

• The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRSs) fundamentally transform non-financial reporting in the European Union, yet empirical evidence on first-year compliance—particularly in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and in construction—remains scarce.

  First-Year Compliance with ESRS Environmental Standards: Evidence from Polish Construction Companies in the Inaugural CSRD Reporting Period · 2026 · DOI

• References thinking and Adams, C. (2017). The Sustainable Development Goals, integrated report. International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) & Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS). https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/news-and- resources/the-business-case-for-the-sdgs? integrated the Anselmi, G., & Petrella, G. (2025). ESG ratings: Disagreement across providers and effects on stock returns. Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, 102133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intfin.2025.102133 Barney, J. (1991). Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management, 17(1), 99-120. https://doi.org/10.1177/014920639101700108 Benzidia, S., Rahoui, M., Ouiakoub, Z., & Rostan, P. (2025). ISO 14001 and corporate financial performance: A systematic literature review. Business Strategy and the Environment, 34(1), 259–275. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.3969 Berg, F., Koelbel, J. F., & Rigobon, R. (2022). Aggregate confusion: The divergence of ESG ratings. Review of Finance, 26(6), 1315-1344. https://doi.org/10.1093/rof/rfac033 Brabec, J., & Macháč, J. (2025). Impacts of the EU Taxonomy implementation: a systematic literature review. Climate Policy, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2025.2526683 Chaihuaque, B. (2021). Análisis de la relación entre rentabilidad y sostenibilidad empresarial en empresas peruanas. Compendium: Cuadernos De Economía Y Administración, 8(2), 227-237. https://doi.org/10.46677/compendium.v8i2.950 Corrales-Cano, L. F., & Gómez-Zapata, J. D. (2023). ¿Sostenibilidad ambiental o indicadores económicos? Una revisión exploratoria sobre sus relaciones. En Contexto, 11(20), 159-183. https://doi.org/10.53995/23463279.1450 Denison, D. (1990). Corporate culture and organisational effectiveness. Wiley. DiMaggio, P. J., & Powell, W. W. (1983). The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American sociological review, 48(2), 147-160. https://doi.org/10.2307/2095101 Donaldson, T., & Preston, L. E. (1995). The stakeholder theory of the corporation: Concepts, evidence, and implications. Academy of management Review, 20(1), 65-91. https://doi.org/10.2307/258887 Elkington, J. (1997). The triple bottom line. Environmental management: Readings and cases, 2, 49-66 European Commission. (2019). The European Green Deal. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal- content/ES/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52019DC0640 European Commission. (2023). Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2772 of 31 July 2023 supplementing Directive 2013/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards sustainability reporting standards. http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_del/2023/2772/oj the sample rather This study has several limitations. First, it focuses on a single year (2023), which limits the ability to capture dynamics, lagged effects, and temporal shifts in reporting practices. Second, the case base is small (N=15) and split by sector, so the results should be interpreted as configurational evidence within than as generalizable sector-wide claims. Third, the model is intentionally parsimonious (three conditions) to preserve interpretability and avoid overfitting, but this may omit relevant environmental dimensions, particularly for Energy. Fourth, environmental indicators may differ across firms in measurement boundaries, assurance levels, and disclosure choices, which can introduce noise even among highly visible listed companies. Fifth, we do not directly measure sustainability-oriented culture or leadership processes; research could incorporate explicit culture proxies (e.g., validated textual measures or mixed-method case evidence) and examine how cultural embedding moderates the practice-performance relationship. future Future research can extend this design in several ways. A natural step is to increase the number of cases by adding years and/or comparable firms, which would support more stable truth tables and stronger cross-case patterns. Researchers may also test alternative financial outcomes (e.g., ROS or ROE) and incorporate intensity-based environmental indicators where feasible. Finally, mixed-method follow-ups (e.g., focused case comparisons or expert-informed validation of specific bundles) could help explain why different configurations emerge within the same sector.

  Environmental sustainability practices and ROA: A configurational Analysis of IBEX 35 firms in Energy and Industry & Construction · 2026 · DOI

• Although this study examines the industry spillover effects of benchmark companies’ improved ESG performance on customer relationship stability from theoretical and empirical perspectives, yielding several valuable research conclusions, certain limitations remain that warrant further investigation and discussion in future studies. For instance, regarding the measurement of customer relationship stability, this study is constrained by publicly disclosed information from listed companies, including only the top five customers. This limitation prevents the measurement of customer relationship stability based on the entire customer base, potentially undermining the generalizability of the findings. Future research could employ field surveys such as interviews and questionnaires to obtain primary data for precise measurement of corporate customer relationship stability. Additionally, while this study primarily examines the demonstration effect of benchmark companies’ improved ESG performance on customer relationship stability, future research could develop comprehensive models to explore the spillover effects of such improvements on supply chain resilience, thereby deepening our understanding of supply chain resilience.

  Spillover Effects of Benchmark Companies Improved Environmental, Social, And Governance (ESG) Performance on Industry Customer Relationship Stability: Empirical Evidence from China · 2026 · DOI

• Given that this study failed to evidence significant association between ESG controversies and firm value, future research could address this limitation by expanding the sample period, including more countries, employing different measures of ESG controversies or introducing moderating variables such as media coverage, ownership structure and industry sensitivity.

  Disentangling Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) Performance To Enhance Firm Value · 2026 · DOI

• Research on the impact of sustainable practices on firm outcomes has produced mixed results. The analysis focuses on a sample of banks in ASEAN countries, a region where banking sector studies remain limited and emerging market banks are often underexplored. Future studies may extend the analysis to include Islamic banks, which remain relatively underexplored in the ESG- efficiency discourse.

  The Mediating Role of Credit Risk in the Relationship Between ESG and Bank Efficiency: Evidence from ASEAN-4 · 2026 · DOI

• This study is significant because it uniquely addresses the gap in understanding how environmental factors and technological readiness contribute to enhancing sustainability auditing, particularly in relation to the Saudi Vision 2030 initiative, while providing novel insights into the SME sector in an emerging economy.

  Unveiling the determinants of sustainability audit quality: Evidence from an emerging economy · 2026 · DOI

• 1 and 2 The GAM estimates reveal limited evidence of nonlinear effects, with only the emissions sub-pillar exhibiting weak and marginally significant curvature, while resource use and innovation display neither statistically nor economically mean- ingful nonlinearities.

  Exploring the trade-offs between environmentally oriented policies and financial performance in U.S. banks: non-linear and heterogeneous effects · 2026 · DOI

• Challenges remain: lack of standardization in ESG ratings, potential short-term costs, greenwashing risks, and contextual variations (by region, industry, or time period).

  THE ROLE OF ESG FACTORS IN INVESTMENT DECISION MAKING AND CORPORATE FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE · 2026 · DOI

• ABSTRACT Prior studies document green technology innovation's (GTI) market impacts, but the mechanisms through which GTI signals reach investors and the conditions affecting their effectiveness remain underexplored.

  How Green Technology Innovation Signals to Investors: The Mediation of ESG Disclosure and the Moderating Effects of Governance and Intermediary · 2026 · DOI

• Findings indicate that ESG integration generally produces positive or neutral financial outcomes, though regional differences exist, and inconsistent data affects ratings.

  SUSTAINABILITY IS ALL THE RAGE: CAN FIRMS HAVE THEIR CAKE AND EAT IT TOO? A LITERATURE REVIEW · 2026 · DOI

• This paper investigates the impact of ESG disclosure on the business performance of listed non-banking firms in Vietnam to fill the significant gap in the literature on ESG disclosure in developing countries like Vietnam, where challenges such as limited resources and measurement constraints exist.

  The impact of ESG disclosure on business performance of Vietnamese listed companies · 2026 · DOI

• Major gaps remain: limited longitudinal studies spanning pre- and post-BRSR eras, insufficient sectoral micro-studies (beyond mining and extractive industries), scarce research on investor heterogeneity and on the role of third-party ESG ratings in India.

  ESG Reporting and Shareholder Value in India: A Systematic Literature Review · 2026 · DOI

• Addressing inconsistencies in prior research and the limited evidence on gender-related dynamics in compliance with mandatory disclosure, we examine whether different forms of female board representation generate heterogeneous treatment effects once the NFRD enters into force.

  Do female directors add to climate-related disclosure? Critical mass and structural power in the context of exogenous shock · 2026 · DOI

• Despite the rapid spread of ESG practices, the academic literature presents conflicting and sometimes contradictory evidence regarding their economic implications and practical effectiveness.

  When Does ESG Create Value? A Literature Review on Benefits, Credibility, and Enabling Factors · 2026 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting

• Corporate Social Performance Revisited · Academy of Management Review · 1991 · 3,964 citations
• Corporate social responsibility and financial performance: correlation or misspecification? · Strategic Management Journal · 2000 · 2,023 citations
• Why is Corporate Virtue in the Eye of The Beholder? The Case of ESG Ratings · The Accounting Review · 2021 · 1,287 citations
• Corporate governance and environmental performance: is there really a link? · Strategic Management Journal · 2011 · 994 citations
• Does the Market Value Environmental Performance? · The Review of Economics and Statistics · 2001 · 989 citations
• Corporate Social Responsibility: Whether or How? · California Management Review · 2003 · 676 citations
• Shareholder activism and firms' voluntary disclosure of climate change risks · Strategic Management Journal · 2021 · 586 citations
• The effect of ESG rating events on corporate green innovation in China: The mediating role of financial constraints and managers' environmental awareness · Technology in Society · 2022 · 575 citations
• New challenges for corporate sustainability reporting: United Nations' 2030 Agenda for sustainable development and the sustainable development goals · Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management · 2020 · 528 citations
• Extending the benefits of <scp>ESG</scp> disclosure: The effect on the cost of debt financing · Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management · 2021 · 502 citations

Most recent work

• Striking a balance: the crucial role of climate risk disclosure in correcting overvaluation and undervaluation in stock markets · Financial Innovation · 2026
• From Fragmented ESG Priorities to Disclosure: The Role of R&D Intensity and Board Characteristics · Business Strategy and the Environment · 2026
• Do boardroom interlock networks enhance corporate environmental responsibility? A resource-management perspective · International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy · 2026
• Beyond the façade: a critical examination of corporate social responsibility strategic uses · Social Responsibility Journal · 2026
• Seeking homogeneity or heterogeneity? The impact of CSR differentiation on consumer brand advocacy · Marketing Intelligence & Planning · 2026
• How do different types of institutions shape corporate environmental, social and governance performance? · Multinational Business Review · 2026
• The responsibility to inform: How AI companies’ transparent communication practice influences public readiness in a cross-national context · Communication and Change · 2026
• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Corporate Profitability in Africa: Non-Linearities, Synergies and Complementarities · Management Research Quarterly. · 2026
• ESG improvement as a critical driver of improved shareholder returns: A study of comparative portfolios · Finance Research Letters · 2026
• ESG disclosure and firm value: a holistic approach to sustainability regulations and GRI compliance · Society and Business Review · 2026

Related topics in Business, Management and Accounting