ESG Integration in Strategic Management: A Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Agenda
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53905/Veritas.v1i03.11Keywords:
artificial intelligence governance, international corporate management, multinational enterprises, ESG, corporate performance, AI ethics, strategic managementAbstract
Purpose of the study: Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations have moved from the periphery of corporate reporting into the core of strategic decision-making, yet the scholarly literature on how ESG is theorized, operationalized, and embedded within strategic management remains fragmented across disciplines, theories, and methodologies. This study conducts a systematic literature review (SLR) to map the intellectual structure, theoretical foundations, strategic capabilities, methodological trends, and future research agenda associated with ESG integration in strategic management.
Methodology: Following the PRISMA 2020 protocol, peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and conference proceedings published in English between 2010 and 2026 were retrieved through a structured multi-source academic search strategy targeting Scopus-, Web of Science-, and PubMed-indexed outlets. After duplicate removal and a two-stage title/abstract and full-text screening process guided by pre-defined inclusion, exclusion, and quality-appraisal criteria, a final corpus of 42 studies was retained for thematic, theoretical, and bibliometric synthesis.
Results: The intellectual structure of the field has evolved through three overlapping stages: corporate social responsibility antecedents (pre-2015), ESG–financial performance debates (2015–2020), and strategic ESG integration and capability-building (2020–present). Stakeholder theory, the resource-based view, dynamic capabilities theory, legitimacy theory, and institutional theory constitute the dominant theoretical foundations. ESG integration is associated with four strategic capability clusters—data governance, organizational learning, strategic adaptability, and technological integration—and with performance outcomes spanning financial returns, risk mitigation, reputational capital, and innovation. Methodologically, quantitative archival and bibliometric designs dominate, while qualitative, longitudinal, and cross-cultural studies remain scarce, and ESG rating divergence continues to undermine measurement validity.
Conclusions: ESG integration in strategic management is theoretically pluralistic but empirically fragmented, with persistent gaps in longitudinal causal evidence, cross-cultural comparison, and micro-foundational process research. A future research agenda oriented toward dynamic, multi-level, and contextually sensitive inquiry is proposed to advance both theory and practice.
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