Page 14 - Azerbaijan State University of Economics

THE JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SCIENCES: THEORY AND PRACTICE, V.83, # 1, 2026, pp. 4-19

The most recent concepts and clusters of concepts included in research are the ESG
performance, green innovation, digital transformation, and, dynamic capabilities showing
the evolution of research on ESG-related topics from the stage when it was a fresh concept
to more recent years. The evolution of research from the impact of ESG on the firm’s
performance, the transition from corporate social responsibility to a more comprehensive
reporting framework, and the impact of ESG, to recent studies dealing with digital
transformation and green innovation, show the incorporation of ESG in the business
strategy and the need of finding innovative instruments to increase its effectiveness. The
approach of ESG performance in recent research highlights the interest of scholars and
practitioners and the need of exploiting the reporting framework at the fullest.

Figure 5: Conceptual overlay (150 keywords)

The ESG performance remains the hottest topic for the map of 107 keywords.
However, another relevant topic for the most recent ESG-related research is
discussing the financial constraints. This is highly significant, showing the need of
businesses to address the challenges of implementing the ESG reporting.

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