ISSN: 2222-6990
Open access
Environmental, social, and governance decoupling (ESGD) has received growing academic attention in the past five years. However, existing review studies focus on CSR decoupling and greenwashing, leaving the review of ESGD still insufficient. To help governance and firms prevent ESGD, reviewing the determinants of ESGD is imperative. This study aims to identify the key determinants of ESGD and to develop a comprehensive knowledge framework that systematically organises the key factors influencing ESGD. Based on a sample of 46 journal articles taken from the Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) databases between 2020 and April 20, 2025, this study classifies the determinants of ESGD into four main categories: firm-level, regulatory-level, market-level, and social-level. In addition, it highlights the current challenges and identifies the future research from three directions: the missing determinant variables, the measurement of ESGD, and big data and artificial intelligence in solving the ESGD issues. This study contributes to the literature by building a comprehensive framework for understanding ESGD’s determinants and laying out key investigative changes for this emerging field in expansion to give policymakers, practitioners, and researchers thoughts on addressing these challenges.
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