Resumo

This study is motivated by the need to understand the scholarly landscape surrounding innovation, value, and sustainability, particularly within the context of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors. The integration of ESG considerations has become pivotal in shaping business strategies and financial performance, emphasizing ethical practices and sustainable approaches. Many studies have suggested that a strong focus on sustainability, coupled with ESG considerations, can lead to innovative solutions that positively impact an organization's overall value and financial outcomes.

This study seeks to address the following problem question: How has the academic studies on innovation, value, and sustainability evolved over the past decade (2013-2023), particularly concerning the integration of ESG factors, and what are the key trends and patterns within this research? The aim of this study is to conduct a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of academic publications to evaluate the growth, impact, and trends in research related to innovation, value, and sustainability. Specifically, we aim to identify influential publications, authors, and research trends.

The literature review demonstrates the interconnections of innovation, sustainability and value creation across contexts and industries, and reveals significant patterns and themes, such as the growing relevance of ESG pillars in business model innovation, the role of corporate governance in improving practices sustainability, and the positive correlation between higher ESG ratings and better financial performance, which contribute to a holistic understanding of the complex and multifaceted nature of innovation, sustainability and value creation in contemporary discourse and practice.

Bibliometric analysis is a quantitative research method used to evaluate and measure various aspects of academic literature. We collected 174 articles in academic journals about value, innovation and sustainability (or ESG) in the Scopus and Web of Science databases, and carried out bibliometric analysis with the support of the R software and the Beblioshiny tool. This systematic approach ensured data integrity and streamlined the analytical process for a comprehensive assessment of the investigation.

Sources, authors, affiliations and countries analysis reveals the interdisciplinary nature of the subject and collaborative efforts between disciplines. Institutions and countries play a key role in advancing research in these areas.United States and United Kingdom demonstrating higher average citation rates despite producing fewer articles, indicating influence in the academic community. Co-occurrence network analysis highlights key terms that consistently have meaning, such as ESG, sustainability and innovation, as also Impact, Governance cluster and Correlation Analysis in 2023.

Our analysis provides a holistic understanding of the dynamic landscape of academic research in the fields of innovation, value, and sustainability. It highlights the significance of key themes, the evolving nature of research priorities, and multidimensional character of scholarly research, which are invaluable for researchers, policymakers, and stakeholders interested in scientific contributions, and fostering international collaboration and knowledge exchange. Future research could incorporate qualitative analyses, extend the temporal scope and conduct content analyses

Bhattacharya & Bhattacharya, 2023 . https://doi.org/10.14453/aabfj.v17i1.12 Broadstock et al., 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.07.014 Cadamuro Morgante et al., 2023. https://doi.org/10.48264/VVSIEV-20233306 Chouaibi & Chouaibi, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOES-12-2020-0203 Foti & Timpanaro, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-04-2021-0358 Huang et al., 2022. https://doi.org/10.3390/su141811429 Park et al., 2023. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20054231 Sandberg et al., 2023. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.3259 Tsatsaronis et al., 2022. https://doi.org/10.1080/03088839.2022.2116658