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This study aims to holistically present a systematic literature review (SLR) triangulated with bibliometric analysis on environmental, social and governance (ESG) research to synthesize and comprehensively review its evolving journey and emerging research streams.

Using R-studio software, this study carried out a retrospective quantitative bibliometric analysis through performance analysis, science mapping and network analysis, covering 261 documents published on ESG research between 2007 and 2022 in Scopus and Web of Science databases.

Performance analysis depicts the trends in publications, impactful journals and influential publications, authors and countries, while science mapping incorporates co-words and thematic analysis. Likewise, co-occurrence analysis provided four different clusters, representing ESG research linkage to other management fields along with key insights from co-citation network analysis. Additionally, the theory–context–characteristics–methods (TCCM) framework has provided valuable results in terms of widely and emerging used theories, contexts, characteristics and methodologies in ESG research.

The findings of this study’s comprehensive bibliometric analysis combined with SLR uncovered a robust roadmap for further investigation in ESG research by identifying the inherent structure and evolution of research themes. This review has not only identified the prevalent gaps in determining priorities for future research but also provides insights which not previously been captured and evaluated on this topic.

To the best of the author's knowledge, no study presents the TCCM framework in the context of bibliometric analysis of ESG research. Besides, a conceptual framework is developed that illustrates antecedents, mediators, moderators and outcomes of research on ESG practices and provides the concluded key takeaways and recommendations for potential authors intending to publish their research papers on ESG practices.

A gripping keyword emerged in the dynamic world of 2022: GPT or the advent of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI), at its forefront, embodied by the mysterious ChatGPT. This technological marvel had been silently lurking in the background for just over five years. However, all of a sudden, it emerged onto the scene, capturing the public’s attention and quickly becoming one of the most widely adopted inventions in history. Therefore, this narrative review is conducted in order to explore the impact of generative AI and ChatGPT on lifelong learning and upskilling of students in higher education and address opportunities and challenges proposed by Artificial Intelligence from a global perspective.

This review has been conducted using a narrative literature review approach. For in-depth identification of research gaps, 105 relevant articles were included from scholarly databases such as Scopus, Web of Science, ERIC and Google Scholar. Seven major themes emerged from the literature to answer the targeted research questions that describe the use of AI, the impact of generative AI and ChatGPT on students, the challenges and opportunities of using AI in education and mitigating strategies to cope with the challenges associated with the integration of ChatGPT and generative AI in education.

The review of the literature presents that generative AI and ChatGPT have gained a lot of recognition among students and have revolutionized educational settings. The findings suggest that there are some contexts in which adult education research and teaching can benefit from the use of chatbots and generative AI technologies like ChatGPT. The literature does, however, also highlight the necessity of carefully considering the benefits and drawbacks of these technologies in order to prevent restricting or distorting the educational process or endangering academic integrity. In addition, the literature raises ethical questions about data security, privacy and cheating by students or researchers. To these, we add our own ethical concerns about intellectual property, such as the fact that, once we enter ideas or research results into a generative chatbot, we no longer have control over how it is used.

This review is helpful for educators and policymakers to design the curriculum and policies that encourage students to use generative AI ethically while taking academic integrity into account. Also, this review article identifies the major gaps that are associated with the impact of AI and ChatGPT on the lifelong learning skills of students.

This review of the literature is unique because it explains the challenges and opportunities of using generative AI and ChatGPT, also defining its impact on lifelong learning and upskilling of students.

This study explores the influence of female executives on the misalignment between corporate ESG commitments and practices, a phenomenon known as ESG decoupling. It also enhances the understanding of female power on affecting ESG decoupling under different ownership settings.

This study uses a quantitative research design to explore the impact mechanism of female executives’ proportion on corporate ESG decoupling under different ownership contexts based on a sample of 2,585 firm-year observations from publicly traded Chinese companies between 2011 and 2021.

Based on agency theory, upper echelons theory and gender socialization theory, our findings indicate that (1) female executives are significantly effective in reducing ESG decoupling, and (2) this effect is more pronounced in non-state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs) compared to state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

This study contributes original insights into the ESG decoupling literature by demonstrating the external influences of corporate governance structure, particularly in the context of China’s unique corporate ownership environment. It also provides strong social implications by highlighting the role of gender dynamics in corporate governance, corporate social responsibility (CSR) behaviors and ESG alignment.

This study aimed to investigate the effect of sustainability disclosure (SD) as a mediator for the relationship between corporate governance (CG) and the performance of firms listed on the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE).

The study analysed 405 reports of firms listed on the ASE from 2014 to 2018. The direct and indirect impact of governance mechanisms on the firms' performance was examined using STATA 15. A four-step procedure for testing mediation was used to determine the mediating role of SD.

The results demonstrated that the board and audit committees' effectiveness positively and significantly influences the firm's performance. Additionally, the results demonstrated that SD partially mediates the relationship between CG and the firm's performance.

Research implications – This study supported the assumptions of agency, resource dependence and stakeholder theories as the basis to explain the relationship among board’s effectiveness, audit committee’s effectiveness, sustainability report and firm performance in developing economies. In addition, the results suggested that CG helps to enhance the firm's performance and sustainability reporting. Firms providing sustainable report are deemed more responsible and attract more returns to firms. Research limitations – The study only focused on reports from five years for non-financial firms listed on the ASE to test the assumed relationship between the variables.

This study contributed to the body of knowledge by examining the mediating role of SD between CG and firm performance. Investors, managers and regulators can obtain further insights, especially those seeking to improve a firm's performance in the emerging markets, through a sound CG system and extensive sustainability reporting.

This study focused on the direct and indirect impacts of CG and firm performance in an emerging and developing economy. The study used SD as the mediating variable in examining the indirect effect.

The purpose of our study is to examine the functioning of internal capital markets (ICMs) within business groups in Iran. We document how the ultimate owner's economic interests in affiliated firms influence their investment and dividend policies.

Using hand-collected data on the ownership structures of Iranian firms, we first identify group-affiliated firms using Almeida et al.’s (2011) method. Having identified business groups, we test a number of hypotheses concerning the dynamics of the ICMs and the implications of the ultimate owner’s incentives for affiliated firms’ behavior.

We first demonstrate that investments of group-affiliated firms are less sensitive to their own cash flow (as compared to stand-alone firms) but are sensitive to the cash flows of other firms affiliated with the same group near or at the bottom of the ownership structure. We next find significant variation in dividend policy within groups, with notably higher dividends for firms close to the ultimate owner. Furthermore, we find that higher investments by firms close to the owner lead to lower dividends by firms positioned far from the owner, but the reverse does not hold.

We are the first to examine the effect of group-affiliated firms’ investments on the dividend policies of other firms based on their position within the group. Our findings illuminate how business groups prioritize funding investments in their closely held firms over paying dividends to outside investors in firms positioned farther from the group owner.

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between institutional investors and sustainability disclosure, specifically examining the impact of financial performance as a moderator variable on the relationship between institutional investors and sustainability disclosure.

This paper used a panel data set of 51 firms from the industrial sector listed in the Amman Stock Exchange, with a total of 459 observations during 2013–2021. Multiple regression models were used to test the direct and moderating relationships.

The findings of this paper indicate that institutional investors exhibit varying attitudes toward sustainability disclosure. Institutional investors have a positive and significant impact on firm sustainability disclosure. Furthermore, the relationship between institutional investors and sustainability disclosure is significantly influenced by financial performance.

The study’s findings encourage regulators to enhance firms’ awareness of sustainability disclosures by balancing the economic, social and environmental pillars. This can be achieved by conserving natural resources, protecting the environment and promoting social justice for future generations.

The paper’s insights can be valuable for policymakers’ sustainable practices by encouraging institutional investors to support sustainability activities actively.

The aim of this study is to conduct an in-depth exploration of the research landscape concerning the impact of social determinants of health (SDH) on the health outcomes of international migrants.

Leveraging the extensive Scopus database, this study retrieved a total of 2,255 articles spanning the years 1993–2023. The framework for analysis used the SDH categories outlined by the World Health Organization.

The research landscape exhibited an apparent increase in the number of publications, but not a net increase in the research productivity. The USA emerged as the leading contributor to research output, with the Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health emerging as the most prolific publication venue, and the University of Toronto ranking as the most prolific institution. The SDH category that received the highest number of publications was the “community and social context”. Migrants from different regions in Asia (East, Central and South Asia) and those from Latin America and the Caribbean region appeared to be the most commonly researched. Highly cited articles predominantly delved into mental health outcomes arising from discrimination and migration policies.

The findings proffer valuable insights for shaping future research endeavors, accentuating the imperative for diversified studies encompassing underrepresented domains, broader health outcomes and the inclusion of migrant populations from different world regions in investigative pursuits.

This study delivers a comprehensive analysis of the research landscape, unveiling critical trends in the realm of SDH and migrant health outcomes.

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between corporate tax avoidance and environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance and the moderating effect of financial constraints on the relationship between corporate tax avoidance and ESG performance.

The sample consists of a global data set involving 24,259 firm-year observations from 49 countries for the years 2011–2020. Corporate ESG performance was extracted from the Thomson Reuters database. The book-tax difference model was used for measuring corporate tax avoidance, while financially constrained firms were identified using the Kaplan and Zingales (1997) index.

The results show that firms with higher tax avoidance are associated with higher ESG performance, but lower ESG performance is shown for firms with higher financial constraints. The results further indicate that the positive impact of corporate tax avoidance on ESG performance becomes weaker for firms with higher financial constraints.

The findings imply that policymakers and regulators should focus on mechanisms to promote more internal funds to assist firms in pursuing ESG-related initiatives, such as through tax incentives. Investors should understand the “smokescreen” effect of corporate tax avoidance on ESG performance, especially for firms with financial constraints.

This analysis provides international evidence on the link between tax avoidance and ESG and considers the joint effect of pressures for internal funds, through tax and financing constraints, on corporate ESG performance.

Educational policies, integrated practices, obliged strategies and notable benchmarks are always required by the higher educational institutions (HEIs) for operating business ventures into competent boundaries and to preside toward the overall new business density. The same are needed to be evaluated based on student's concerns for road-mapping sustainability. Accordingly, authors conducted present study to identify crucial quality characteristics (measures) under the origins of HEIs based on student's concerns using qualitative medium under Indian economy. The study is presenting critical dimensions and quality characteristics, which are seeking by the students for selecting HEIs for their studies.

Kano integrated-Grey-VIKOR approach is utilized in present study for road-mapping sustainability based on the determination of priority index and ranking. The study utilized three segments of methodology, where in the first segment, Kano technique is implicated to define priority index of quality characteristics. In the second segment, grey sets theory is implicated to capture the perceptions of the respondents. In the third segment, VIKOR technique is implicate to rank the HEIs.

The findings of the study will assist administrators in planning the prominent strategies that can embrace performance traits under HEI, which in turn will participate in growth and development of an economy. The findings have revealed “PPCS, ICMC, TSTR, PICM, AFEP, IMIS as Attractive performance characteristics,” “IEAF, OIAR, INET as One dimensional performance characteristics,” “QTCS, PORE, SIRD as Must-be performance characteristics” and “PQPE, PCTM as Indifferent performance characteristics.” Additionally, “Professional and placement characteristics of institute” is found as the most significant measure inspiring students for admiring engineering institutes. It is found that “Observance of institutional affiliation and recognition” and “Infrastructure, classroom management and control methods” are found as the second significant measures. “Patterns of question papers and evaluation medium” and “Personal characteristics of teacher and management” are found as the least competent characteristics admiring stakeholders for selecting HEI.

The present study can assist administrators in drafting refined policies and strategies for practising quality outputs by HEI. The study suggested critical quality characteristics, which in respond will aid in attracting more number of students toward educational institutes. A study under Indian context is demonstrated for presenting critical facts and attaining higher student's enrolment rates.

Considering the standards developed by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), this study aims to examine whether the link between material sustainability and financial performance depends on the extent to which the company is oriented toward stakeholders.

To test the predictions, 13,942 firm-year observations from 43 different countries are used, covering the period from 2010 to 2019. Using a hand-mapping approach to match the indicators suggested by the SASB with those of the ASSET4, the authors realize that there are 170 material sustainability indicators among 466 indicators of the ASSET4. The authors use three different methods to verify if the materiality matters, including the alphas obtained from the Fama and French factor models, comparing the average abnormal returns of the portfolios and the bootstrapped Cramer technique.

The findings show that companies investing in material sustainability activities perform better than those investing in immaterial activities. Also, consistent with the theoretical foundations, the authors find that the effect of investing in material sustainability activities is more pronounced in stakeholder-oriented countries than that in shareholder-oriented countries. The results are robust to a battery of sensitivity tests.

Owing to COVID-19 in late 2019, data from 2020 to 2022 have not been used to obtain reliable results.

The results obtained in the current research provide valuable guidance for investors to make investments considering the degree of materiality of sustainability activities in different industries. It also helps managers to increase the company’s financial performance, make efficient decisions related to investment in sustainability activities and find investment strategies on the material sustainability issues in their industries.

This study provides a clearer understanding of investment in sustainability activities in different industries by separating material and immaterial sustainability activities in stakeholder and shareholder-oriented countries, and the results obtained can change the perspective of investors and company managers regarding investing in such activities in different countries. Investing in more materiality sustainability activities than the immateriality dimension can be new opportunities for companies to achieve predetermined goals, help retain and attract business partners or be a source of innovation for new product lines or services. Internal morale and employee engagement may increase while increasing productivity and firm performance. This discussion opens the way for future research.

This study provides insight into the effect of investing in material and immaterial sustainability activities in different industries on the company’s performance in shareholder and stakeholder-oriented countries.