ESG Signals and Capital Market Responses : A Bibliometric Review of Global Research Trends and Future Research Agenda
Abstract
This study examines the global research landscape on ESG signals and capital market responses through a bibliometric analysis of publications indexed in the Scopus database. Using VOSviewer as the primary analytical tool, the study constructs and interprets keyword co-occurrence networks to identify dominant research themes, thematic clusters, temporal evolution patterns, and research density distributions in this field. The analysis reveals that the literature is anchored around ESG, sustainability, and capital market, with ESG disclosure, ESG performance, and ESG rating functioning as key mediating constructs linking corporate environmental, social, and governance signals to market valuation outcomes. The findings show that the field has expanded from early disclosure-oriented research toward themes of green bonds, greenwashing, ESG rating disagreement, and firm value, with China increasingly representing the dominant empirical setting. Overlay visualization indicates that ESG rating disagreement, financing constraints, and corporate social responsibility are among the most recently active themes, while density analysis confirms ESG, sustainability, capital market, and ESG performance as the most intensively studied constructs. These findings provide a comprehensive map of the field and identify promising directions for future research on ESG signaling and capital market behavior.
Keywords
References
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