Evolution of Corporate Accountability for Biodiversity Reporting. Do Stakeholder Capitalism and Institutional Context Matter? A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

This article aims to systematize and structure research on biodiversity accounting. We identify the main current areas and dynamics of biodiversity accounting. Therefore, we explore how stakeholder capitalism can contribute to corporate commitments to biodiversity conservation. We also examine how the institutional context plays a role in these commitments. Finally, we analyze how these factors can contribute to global governance to achieve SDGs 14 and 15. We used a mixed-methods analysis by research synthesis. A bibliometric analysis was performed following the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses) protocol to search and select scientific contributions to be analyzed. Citation analysis is used to map current research fronts. In addition, a bibliographic coupling is performed to identify connection networks in the current literature. We review a sample of 163 studies from the Academic Journal Guide (AJG). We identify research activities on biodiversity accounting between 1993 and early 2023. We used BibExcel and Gephi software packages to perform a scientific mapping analysis based on co-word bibliographic networks. The R package Bibliometrix is used to perform an algorithmic historiography. The empirical results show the current state of the art on biodiversity accounting and suggest new research trends. Our results are also intuitive, as biodiversity conservation accounting is undoubtedly at the center of global policy discussions. We find from this meta-analysis that differences in biodiversity accounting practices are due to the wide variety of institutions that have become entrenched over time. This article enriches the current state of the art. It also identifies important themes in the biodiversity accounting literature. This offers valuable theoretical and practical perspectives.