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Topic · Strategy and Management

Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting

Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting is a research topic within Strategy and Management. Science Explorer counts 31k research works in it since 1961. 10.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and financial performance, with a focus on stakeholder theory, sustainability reporting, environmental disclosure, shareholder value, business ethics, socially responsible investment, and strategic CSR. The papers analyze the impact of CSR on firm reputation, customer behavior, market value, risk management, and organizational commitment.

  • Corporate Social Responsibility
  • Financial Performance
  • Stakeholder Theory
  • Sustainability Reporting
  • Environmental Disclosure
  • Shareholder Value
  • Business Ethics
  • Socially Responsible Investment
  • Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility
  • Institutional Theory
Research works
31k
fractional, since 1961
In the world top 10%
3.1k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+69%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
28% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting

Which countries lead Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting research?

By volume, China and Indonesia publish the most (2.4k and 1.4k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 2.4k works
  2. 2 Indonesia 1.4k works
  3. 3 United States 1.2k works
  4. 4 India 905 works
  5. 5 United Kingdom 594 works
  6. 6 Italy 532 works
  7. 7 Türkiye 363 works
  8. 8 Malaysia 362 works
  9. 9 Australia 361 works
  10. 10 Spain 353 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 28.4%Indonesia: 16.5%United States: 13.8%India: 10.8%6 others listed: 30.6%28%largest
China2,382 · 28.4%Indonesia1,379 · 16.5%United States1,153 · 13.8%India905 · 10.8%6 others listed2,565 · 30.6%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting research?

By volume in 2022-now, Bucharest University of Economic Studies publishes the most Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting research, followed by Nigerian Defence Academy and Xi'an Jiaotong University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Bucharest University of Economic StudiesRomania 54 works
  2. 2 Nigerian Defence AcademyNigeria 45 works
  3. 3 Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityChina 44 works
  4. 4 Binus UniversityIndonesia 43 works
  5. 5 Universiti Teknologi MARAMalaysia 43 works
  6. 6 Airlangga UniversityIndonesia 42 works
  7. 7 Universitas TrisaktiIndonesia 41 works
  8. 8 Southwestern University of Finance and EconomicsChina 41 works
  9. 9 University of SfaxTunisia 41 works
  10. 10 University of IndonesiaIndonesia 38 works

Who are the leading researchers in Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting include Christian M. Ringle, Michael C. Jensen and David F. Larcker.

  1. 1 Christian M. Ringle Germany 215k citations
  2. 2 Michael C. Jensen United States 203k citations
  3. 3 David F. Larcker United States 197k citations
  4. 4 Paul M. Thompson United States 196k citations
  5. 5 Michael E. Porter United States 165k citations
  6. 6 Philip M. Podsakoff United States 164k citations
  7. 7 Joseph F. Hair United States 163k citations
  8. 8 Jay Bryan Barney United States 152k citations
  9. 9 Richard P. Bagozzi United States 148k citations
  10. 10 SCOTT B. MACKENZIE United States 147k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting?

The most cited paper in Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting is "Managing Legitimacy: Strategic and Institutional Approaches" (Mark C. Suchman, 1995), with 12,673 citations. Next come "Toward a Theory of Stakeholder Identification and Salience: Defining the Principle of who and What Really Counts" (9,522) and "Corporate Social and Financial Performance: A Meta-Analysis" (7,659).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Managing Legitimacy: Strategic and Institutional Approaches Mark C. Suchman · Academy of Management Review Jul 1995 12,673
2 Toward a Theory of Stakeholder Identification and Salience: Defining the Principle of who and What Really Counts Ronald K. Mitchell, Bradley R. Agle, Donna J. Wood · Academy of Management Review Oct 1997 9,522
3 Corporate Social and Financial Performance: A Meta-Analysis Marc Orlitzky, Frank L. Schmidt, Sara L. Rynes · Organization Studies Review Mar 2003 7,659
4 THE CORPORATE SOCIAL PERFORMANCE-FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE LINK Sandra A. Waddock, Samuel B. Graves · Strategic Management Journal Apr 1997 6,497
5 A Stakeholder Framework for Analyzing and Evaluating Corporate Social Performance Max Clarkson · Academy of Management Review 1995 6,115
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting research done?

The largest centres of Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Jakarta (Indonesia), Shanghai (China) and Nanjing (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Kaduna and Lüneburg.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 350 works
  2. 2 JakartaIndonesia 228 works
  3. 3 ShanghaiChina 156 works
  4. 4 NanjingChina 148 works
  5. 5 WuhanChina 137 works
  6. 6 SurabayaIndonesia 125 works
  7. 7 LondonUnited Kingdom 121 works
  8. 8 GuangzhouChina 117 works
  9. 9 ChengduChina 112 works
  10. 10 Xi'anChina 106 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. KadunaNG · 46.0 works27×
  2. LüneburgDE · 21.2 works20×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting than the world average.

See Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting on the map

Where is the best place to study Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Salento, Capital University of Economics and Business and Jiangsu University score highest, combining citation excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%60%mean 27.42%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of SalentoJiangsu UniversityCapital University o…University of Busine…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Citation excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University of SalentoItaly 72.555.2%10.3×15 +14.9%
2Capital University of Economics and BusinessChina 67.531.2%35.5×30 +558.1%
3Jiangsu UniversityChina 63.435.2%2.5×24 +151.3%
4University of Business and TechnologySaudi Arabia 60.821.4%18.0×20 +210.7%
5Southwestern University of Finance and EconomicsChina 60.314.2%24.2×41 +221.2%
6Abu Dhabi UniversityUnited Arab Emirates 59.735.3%12.5×11 +77.0%
7Dongbei University of Finance and EconomicsChina 59.420.5%36.8×26 +178.0%
8University of SfaxTunisia 58.79.1%13.7×41 +94.5%
9Nanjing University of Finance and EconomicsChina 58.136.7%9.4×15 +211.7%
10Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityChina 57.315.4%2.1×44 +155.5%

Universities only. The score blends citation excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting, country by country

Is Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 69% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.051% in 2024.

still counting0.025%0.050%0.075%Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting0.063% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting10.1% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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