BOARD NETWORKS, DIVERSITY, AND ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL AND GOVERNANCE (ESG) PERFORMANCE: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW

Unofficial AI-generated summary based on the public title and abstract. Not an official translation.

🔬研究者:Provides an integrated governance lens on board networks, diversity, and ESG, identifying contextual conditions for future research.

🏢実務担当者:Corporate boards and sustainability teams can use these findings to optimize board composition and network connections for better ESG outcomes.

🏛政策担当者:Regulators can consider board diversity and network requirements to strengthen corporate sustainability oversight and disclosure credibility.

This systematic literature review examines how board network centrality and board diversity shape environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance within corporate governance. Although prior studies have linked director networks and board composition to sustainability-related outcomes, the evidence remains fragmented because these governance attributes are often examined separately. This review addresses that gap by integrating insights from social network and resource dependence perspectives to explain how board connectedness and diversity jointly influence ESG performance, sustainability disclosure, and governance-related innovation. Guided by the PRISMA 2020 framework, the review systematically searched Scopus and Web of Science for English-language journal articles published between 2022 and 2025. After applying explicit inclusion and exclusion criteria, 24 eligible studies were retained and analysed using thematic synthesis. Three dominant themes emerged: (i) board network centrality and governance effectiveness, (ii) board diversity and ESG performance, and (iii) sustainability-driven innovation and reporting practices. The findings indicate that centrally positioned boards are frequently associated with stronger ESG performance, more credible sustainability disclosure, and greater adaptive capacity, particularly in resource-intensive and highly regulated settings. Board diversity, especially gender diversity, generally strengthens transparency, stakeholder responsiveness, and sustainability oversight, although its effects remain contingent on board processes, organisational culture, and institutional context. Overall, this review contributes by offering an integrated governance lens on board networks, diversity, and ESG, while clarifying the organisational and institutional conditions under which board attributes are most likely to support credible and sustained sustainability outcomes.

• semanticscholar https://doi.org/10.35631/aijbes.827051first seen 2026-05-15 18:30:58 · last seen 2026-06-15 05:27:24
• openaire https://doi.org/10.35631/aijbes.827051first seen 2026-06-11 05:12:48 · last seen 2026-06-16 04:36:37