Shareholder activism, divestment, and sustainability

Abstract This paper provides a systematic review of the literature pertaining to shareholder activism, divestment, and sustainability. Since the early 2000s, scholars have been engaged in research to better understand shareholder activism and firm divestment. By conducting a state‐of‐the‐art literature review, we identify the 40 most influential publications in the field and find that they can be divided into two distinct themes. We review each of these to identify the main contributions in these research areas. With a highlight on possible pathways for future research, we outline these emerging trends to integrate existing knowledge and provide suggestions for innovative research opportunities to expand the research frontier.