Improving Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Performance through Global Value Creation

Special issue information:

Motivation for the Special Issue-Potential Research Issues

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) is now a hot topic in business due to climate crises and conflicts between countries (Dong et al, 2022). Many companies have struggled to understand the link between their level of commitment to ESG factors and long-term success in global value chains. ESG is a set of standards that companies must adhere to in order to create and maintain a socially responsible and sustainable business (Barros et al. 2024). ESG includes three dimensions, i.e., environmental performance, social impact and governance. Specifically, environmental factors include biodiversity, climate change, pollution and resources, and water security (Tong et al. 2023); social factors include customer responsibility, health and safety, corporate social responsibility (Panagopoulos et al. 2016), human rights and community, and labor standards (Shen et al. 2024); governance includes anti-corruption initiatives, corporate governance, risk management and tax transparency (Dai and Tang 2022).

Recently, improving ESG performance has been a central goal for managers (Benjamin et al. 2023). ​Incorporating ESG metrics into business strategies can create value for key stakeholders by enhancing operational efficiency, reputation, and financial performance. It would help to acknowledge the ESG risks and opportunities relevant to business and requires a thorough assessment of environmental impact, corporate social responsibility practices, and financial performance while remaining mindful of societal and environmental considerations (Lee et al. 2022).

ESG can also drive consumer preferences. Consumers are increasingly aware of the importance of sustainability and social responsibility. They are actively looking for information to confirm or disconfirm beliefs about companies (Skarmeas and Leonidou 2013). ESG reporting is an organization’s public disclosure of its corporate ESG data. ESG reporting aims to inform the organization’s ESG process improvement, product innovation activities, and sustainability performance (Li et al. 2023). Based on ESG reporting, consumers can know the type of company’s sustainability and make better-informed decisions.

ESG can reduce costs substantially. Imposing ESG practices in companies effectively can help combat rising operating expenses, such as raw-material costs and the true cost of water or carbon. Given the link between ESG strategy and the cost of capital, investors increasingly focus on understanding a company’s ability to manage long-term risks through ESG disclosures (Iurkov et al. 2024).

ESG can also enhance supply chain robustness and channel resilience. ESG standards encourage channel members to assess ESG practices and ensure they align with their values and standards. This includes ensuring suppliers use environmentally friendly materials and processes, treat workers fairly, and follow ethical business practices (Bag et al. 2023). These standards can be used to measure a company’s sustainable performance, mitigate business risk, and increase transparency within the entire supply chain (Dai and Tang 2022). Recently, to enhance ESG performance, many companies have invested in technology solutions such as blockchain and AI (Asif et al. 2023). These technologies can help firms both strategically and operationally.

This special issue aims to publish high-quality theoretical and empirical papers addressing ESG value creation challenges in multinational corporations. We seek research works that employ mainstream scientific methods in business research (e.g., case studies, empirically grounded analytics, surveys, event studies, and so on). The use of multi-methodological approach is also fine. In particular, we invite papers that look into the theory and connect with other business management functions such as marketing, innovation, and strategy. Original, high-quality research that has neither been published nor is currently under review by other journals is welcome.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Linking ESG with company values, strategy, and goals.
• ESG practices integration with sustainable and ethical practices.
• Providing transparency and accountability to improve ESG performance.
• ESG risk identification and management.
• ESG framework and metric development in terms of marketing, retailing, and supply chain management.
• Digitalization for ESG performance.
• Emerging technologies such as AI, IoT, and blockchain for improving ESG performance.
• Supply chain robustness and resilience for improving ESG performance.
• ESG and supply chain disruption.
• Impacts of customer participation on ESG value creation.
• Customer perceptions of a firm’s ESG practices.
• ESG and firm performance outcomes.
• Integrating ESG into business management functions such as marketing, innovation, and strategy.

Manuscript submission information:

Submissions are welcomed starting: March 1, 2025

Paper Submission Deadline: March 31, 2025

If you'd like to submit to this special issue, you can do it here.

Please make sure you select the Article Type 'VSI: ESG Performance’ when submitting your paper.

All submissions will go through the JBR regular double-blind review process and follow the standard norms and processes.