A systematic literature review towards a conceptual framework for integrating sustainability performance into business

Several publications approach the subject of corporate sustainability performance, considering this background, the present research conducts a systematic literature review based on 261 papers towards a conceptual framework for integrating sustainability performance into business. Moreover, it aims at structuring the literature on corporate sustainability performance to highlight its main contributions and gaps. Data analysis initiates with a descriptive statistics of the sample, including yearly distribution, main journals, and most cited papers. It is followed by the delimitation of each sustainability performance approach of measurement, management and reporting and the cross analysis among them. Finally, a conceptual framework is proposed to address the integration of sustainability performance into business. This framework is composed by three levels. The first represents the principles for corporate sustainability to guide decision-making driven by collective values. The second level includes the core sustainable business elements, which are processes and practices, capabilities, offerings and contributions to sustainable development. At the third level, the context factors represent the internal and external aspects that affect the previous levels.