Governance Systems: A Bibliometric and Systematic Review (2015–2026)
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Evidence on green finance, environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy, and environmental governance has expanded rapidly, but it remains fragmented across finance, management, sustainability, and regulatory research. No prior bibliometric review has systematically integrated the three domains as a single field. This study addresses that gap through a hybrid bibliometric and systematic review of 2,500 English-language peer-reviewed journal articles retrieved from Dimensions for 2015 to the 2026 extraction date, interpreted through Institutional Theory, Stakeholder Theory, Legitimacy Theory, and the Natural Resource-Based View. Publication activity accelerated sharply after 2020, reaching 1,043 articles in 2025; the 424 records for 2026 represent only a partial year. Four interconnected thematic clusters structure the field: green finance and sustainable investment; ESG strategy and corporate sustainability; environmental governance and regulatory systems; and green innovation and sustainable development. Green finance, ESG, sustainability, environmental governance, and green innovation are the most central concepts, while disclosure, regulation, climate finance, and sustainable development bridge the clusters. Research output is geographically concentrated, with China accounting for 987 publications, whereas African scholarship remains underrepresented. The evidence therefore points to an emerging sustainability-governance domain in which finance, regulation, disclosure, and firm-level environmental capabilities increasingly interact. However, participation remains uneven because institutional capacity, data availability, and research infrastructure differ across jurisdictions. The review contributes a multi-theoretical synthesis and a research agenda focused on comparative institutional analysis, credible disclosure, regulatory capacity, data infrastructure, and firm-level capability development. These priorities are particularly relevant to emerging-economy scholarship and policy. The review also clarifies the field's relevance to SDGs 7, 12, 13, and 17.
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