Corporate Sustainability Performance Measurement: Narrative Review of Literature on Dimensions of Corporate Sustainability Indices

Abstract

The concept of corporate sustainability has gained immense significance in the last few decades. Several indices
have been developed to measure corporate sustainability performance (CSP) among different sectors of industry
and corporate firms. These indices cover different aspects of sustainability practices, however, the concept of
corporate sustainability performance has widened with the emergence of ESG, Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) and circular economy (CE) concept and these dimensions need to be included in an index of sustainability
performance. The aim of this study is to review different corporate sustainability indices (CSI) and analyze the
dimensions of sustainability upon which they are based. This study also reviews the utilization of indices for
measuring the impact of corporate sustainability practices on firm’s financial performance (FFP). A
comprehensive search of literature was carried out to review different CSI and narrative review methodology
was utilized to assess the utility of the indices. Specific search strings were formulated and Dimensions database
was used to extract bibliographic data. This study will enable researchers to find CSI dimensions that best suits
their research objectives. The items of a particular dimension of sustainability have not been covered in this
study. This study will also provide the limitations of existing indices and provide future directions in development
of integrated sustainability measurement indices.