A Bibliometric Analysis of Sustainability Reporting via Social Media

Tahira Kanwal, Rehana Kouser and Muhammad Umer Quddoos

Sustainable Business and Society in Emerging Economies, 2025, vol. 7, issue 4, 735-754

Abstract: Purpose: In this study, the bibliometric methodology is used to investigate how research on sustainability reporting using social media has evolved over time. The primary goal is to trace the intellectual, thematic, and methodological evolution of this field of research as well as to comprehend how the digital platforms have transformed the idea of sustainability communication.Design/Methodology/Approach: The review examines 423 articles published no earlier than 2006 and found in Scopus. The publication patterns, intellectual basis as well as the development of themes were mapped using bibliometric techniques such as the descriptive analysis, co-citation analysis and the key word co-occurrence analysis. The relationships between authors, theories, and the themes of research were identified through network visualization tools.Findings: The findings include that the number of publications in the years after 2014 grew significantly, which suggests the growing academic attention to sustainability reporting through social media. They revealed five areas of research dominance, which include: corporate legitimacy and greenwashing, stakeholder engagement and dialogic communication, ESG performance transparency, strategic CSR communication and data-driven sentiment analysis. The most commonly used theoretical lenses are the legitimacy theory, the stakeholder theory, the institutional theory, the dialogic communication theory and the management relevance theory. Interdisciplinary outlooks and AI-driven approaches to analyzing sentiment and natural language processing gain popularity as the subject of more recent studies.Implications/Originality/Value: The bibliometric review provides a systematic summary of the topic, the emergent trends, and gaps involving platform governance, Global South settings, and algorithmic effect on ESG stories, suggesting a basis on upcoming research

Keywords: Sustainability Reporting; Social Media; Bibliometric Analysis; ESG Disclosure; Stakeholder Engagement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:src:sbseec:v:7:y:2025:i:4:p:735-754

DOI: 10.26710/sbsee.v7i4.3537

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