ISO 14001 and corporate financial performance: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract The impact of the certification on financial performance is still a debated issue. While a number of research studies have highlighted the importance of the environmental management system in achieving environmental performance, there is a theoretical gap concerning the way in which the environmental management system affects the financial performance of companies. This paper aims to fill the identified gap on how ISO 14001 adoption affects companies' financial performance, and the moderating factors likely to influence this link. To address the research question, a systematic literature review was carried out over the last decade of the main studies on this issue published in peer‐reviewed journals between 2004 and 2024. The analysis of the 57 articles in our sample provides a comprehensive picture of the impact of ISO 14001 on financial performance. The results of this research highlight the factors that influence the relationship between financial performance and ISO 14001 certification and suggest that endogenous and exogenous factors should be taken into account in order to understand this complex link.