Exploring the research on sustainability reporting: a comprehensive bibliometric and literature review in the Latin American context

Objective: This study aims to conduct a comprehensive bibliometric and literature review to describe the origin and content of research on corporate sustainability reporting in Latin America published in journals indexed in the SCOPUS, WoS, SCIELO, and REDIB databases on corporate sustainability reporting in Latin America and to contribute to its theoretical development and promote the performance and disclosure of sustainability in the region. Methodology: The comprehensive bibliometric and literature review used a quantitative and qualitative approach, with a descriptive scope through a content analysis of the papers' origin and nature according to the established qualitative categories. Originality/Relevance: The research contributes to increasing the body of literature on sustainability reporting research in Latin America and proposes a regional planning research to improve performance and sustainability reports with the stakeholders in the organizations of the region's countries.Results: The results of the analysis of 75 publications in 40 journals show an increase until the 2018 period. Most of the publications were by Brazilian and Colombian authors and journals. The largest number of studies corresponds to descriptive quantitative research based on content analysis of reports prepared according to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). Studies mainly consider institutional and legitimacy theories. There is also an absence of studies that consider stakeholder theory, address contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and deal with environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting in the Latin American context. Social contributions: A pending research agenda is presented on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and sustainability reporting in Latin American organizations as a contribution to the sustainable development in Latin America. Therefore, a regional plan of research is proposed.