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Trends in the Dynamic Evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility and Leadership: A Literature Review and Bibliometric Analysis

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Abstract

The relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and leadership has received considerable research attention in recent decades. While there have been several qualitative reviews, quantitative and systematic reviews of CSR–leadership links remain absent. The current paper seeks to address this gap by using a bibliometric method to analyze and visualize the evolution and research trends within the CSR–leadership domain. Drawing from a sample of 1432 peer-reviewed articles, we map the landscape of the CSR–leadership research domain and identify key developments and patterns over the period 1994–2020. In addition to highlighting a range of publication trends including key theoretical influences, the findings also reveal an acceleration in the volume and breadth of CSR–leadership research. Seven subdomains (or clusters) are further identified (i.e., board characteristics, responsible leadership, emerging country context, team efficacy, CEO pay fairness, shareholder wealth, and cross-sector social partnership) and discussed based on the keywords using the log-likelihood ratio clustering algorithm. The analysis is further divided into three stages: namely, the initial stage (1991–2003), the rapid development stage (2004–2011), and the maturation stage (2012–present). These stages are used to present more fine-grained insights into the research patterns over time. We conclude by discussing implications of the bibliometric analysis and presenting several opportunities for future research.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Section Editor and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on the paper.

Funding

Funding was provided by Innovative Research Group Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 71672060 and 72072057).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Economics and Management, East China Normal University, North Zhongshan Rd 3663, Shanghai, China

    Liming Zhao & Zhenyuan Wang

  2. Macquarie Business School, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia

    Miles M. Yang & Grant Michelson

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  1. Liming Zhao
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Correspondence to Zhenyuan Wang.

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Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.

Table 3 Top 10 journals in terms of number of publications on CSR–leadership
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Table 4 Top 10 institutions with largest number of publications
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Table 5 Top 10 Countries with most publications in CSR–leadership
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Table 6 Top 10 authors and articles cited in CSR–leadership
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Table 7 Top 10 keywords according to frequency and centrality
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Zhao, L., Yang, M.M., Wang, Z. et al. Trends in the Dynamic Evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility and Leadership: A Literature Review and Bibliometric Analysis. J Bus Ethics 182, 135–157 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-022-05035-y

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