Corporate environmental responsiveness: a bibliometric and content analysis

Corporate environmental responsiveness (CERes) has attracted the attention of multiple stakeholders over the decades. However, recent literature points toward a limited and fragmented understanding of factors driving CERes and how firms respond to environmental issues. Consequently, there have been calls for developing a comprehensive framework that identifies and explains the interactions between various antecedents and consequent CERes strategies. Responding to these calls, this study examines the CERes literature to understand the evolution of the knowledge structure and the drivers of CERes. The study further explores the environmental management strategies into which CERes manifest and their influence on firm performance. For doing so, the study employs bibliometric and content analysis methodologies and strategy tripod as a theoretical underpinning to analyze and organize the CERes literature. The study contributes by (a) organizing the CERes research into eight distinct themes, (b) proposing a conceptual framework, and (c) analyzing the influence of strategic choices on firms’ competitive advantage and performance. Finally, it discusses implications for scholars, managers, and policymakers and highlights research directions by formulating potential research questions.