The Rise of ESG in Corporate Strategy: Trends and Patterns from a Bibliometric Review

Objective: This study identifies and systematises, based on the scientific literature, the most recurrent ESG practices in the corporate context, their associated material topics, interrelationships, as well as the values generated and the main barriers to their adoption. Theoretical Framework: The study is grounded in the literature on ESG, corporate governance, corporate sustainability, and materiality, bringing together classical contributions and contemporary approaches that address ESG as an analytical framework for understanding corporate practices, value creation, and long-term risk management. Method: A systematic literature review was conducted, combining bibliometric and thematic analyses of publications indexed in the Scopus database between 2004 and 2024, using the software tools VOSviewer, Google Sheets, and Power BI. Results and Discussion: The results highlight corporate governance as a transversal axis of ESG practices, articulating the environmental and social dimensions, with recurrent thematic patterns and relationships between ESG practices and material topics. The literature associates these practices with value creation and impact reduction, while also identifying barriers related to measurement, standardisation, and resource constraints, as well as the growth of scientific production in Asian countries, particularly China and South Korea. Research Implications: The study provides theoretical insights to advance ESG research and analytical guidance for organisations seeking to understand the relationships between ESG practices, materiality, and value creation. Originality/Value: The research contributes by integrating ESG practices, material topics, values, and barriers in a structured manner through a combined bibliometric and thematic approach.