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

                     The Role of Sustainability Reporting for Enhancing the Corporate
                                         Credibility. A Literature Review

                          Florentin Emil Tănasă , Marian Siminică , Florian Marcel Nuță     1,3*
                                                                     2
                                                  1

                    1  Danubius International University, Galati, Romania
                      ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-8379-2678
                    2  University of Craiova, Craiova, Romania
                      ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2944-4791
                    3  UNEC Research Center for Global Environmental Problems,
                      Azerbaijan State University of Economics (UNEC), Baku, Azerbaijan
                      ORCID ID:  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8663-4183
                      E-mail: [email protected]

                                     https://doi.org/10.30546/jestp.2026.85.01.0019


                         Received: October 30. 2025; accepted: March  27; published online June 05, 2026


                    ABSTRACT
                    Sustainability  reporting  faces  a  dual  challenge:  a  growing  demand  for  ESG
                    (Environmental, Social, Governance) data and a distrust fueled by the perception of
                    "greenwashing".  This  paper aims  to  analyze, through a literature review, how the
                    introduction  of  mandatory  assurance,  in  particular  through  the  EU  Corporate
                    Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and global standardization through ISSA
                    5000,  influences  the  credibility  and  reliability  of  sustainability  information.  The
                    methodology  involves  a  search  of  the  Web  of  Science  and  Scopus  databases  to
                    identify relevant research on ESG assurance and reporting quality and employing the
                    VosViewer  to  map  the  conceptual  networks.  The  main  findings  emphasize  the
                    evolution of research on ESG-related topics. While at early stages the studies mainly
                    discussed the ESG framework and its components from a conceptual point of view
                    and debated upon their coherence and feasibility, later on the research adapted to the
                    complex context and discussed environmental, social, and governance reporting and
                    compliance in connection with company’s performance, digital transformation, and
                    green innovation. This shows the transformative character of ESGs and their role in
                    building company effectiveness in addressing non-financial issues.

                    Keywords:  sustainability  assurance,  CSRD,  ISSA  5000,  greenwashing,  reporting
                    credibility, ESG

                    JEL codes: M4; Q56



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