From CSR to ESG – The New Era in Corporate Responsibility

Abstract The manuscript aims to propose the evolution of corporate responsibility from the old-fashioned Corporate Social Responsibility model to its modern Environmental, Social and Governance variant. The research is basing on the bibliometric analysis realized by means of VOSviewer and oriented on 1.182 documents taken from the database of Scopus, published from 2008 to 2025. The co-citation of keywords points to the broadening of the scope of the academic discussion from the mere aspects of CSR, including reputation exemplified by philanthropy, to the more complex grounds of ESG, such as environmental performance, data transparency, or corporate. Following the results, a new original conceptual model was proposed, where the aspects of CSR, ESG and sustainable development (SD) are related. The examples of the individual relation of CSR with ESG and of ESG with SD prove that: the new conceptual platform is based not on the voluntary or image-oriented level, but on the one that can be measured and audited and even regulated. The manuscript enriches the scientific discussion by showing ESG as the new, adult form of corporate responsibility combining ethics, efficiency, transparency, and value creation for the long-term perspective in the dimensions of sustainable development.