Trends in the Dynamic Evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility and Leadership: A Literature Review and Bibliometric Analysis

The relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and leadership has received considerable research attention in recent decades. While there have been several qualitative reviews, quantitative and systematic reviews of CSR–leadership links remain absent. The current paper seeks to address this gap by using a bibliometric method to analyze and visualize the evolution and research trends within the CSR–leadership domain. Drawing from a sample of 1432 peer-reviewed articles, we map the landscape of the CSR–leadership research domain and identify key developments and patterns over the period 1994–2020. In addition to highlighting a range of publication trends including key theoretical influences, the findings also reveal an acceleration in the volume and breadth of CSR–leadership research. Seven subdomains (or clusters) are further identified (i.e., board characteristics, responsible leadership, emerging country context, team efficacy, CEO pay fairness, shareholder wealth, and cross-sector social partnership) and discussed based on the keywords using the log-likelihood ratio clustering algorithm. The analysis is further divided into three stages: namely, the initial stage (1991–2003), the rapid development stage (2004–2011), and the maturation stage (2012–present). These stages are used to present more fine-grained insights into the research patterns over time. We conclude by discussing implications of the bibliometric analysis and presenting several opportunities for future research.