Emerging trends in sustainability practices in the Arab world: a comprehensive review and insightful analysis

Abstract Background/Purpose This study investigates the trends of sustainable business practices in the Arab countries and the correlation relating these trends, sustainable business and economic growth. Sustainable business practices are those that incorporate economic, social, and environmental (ESG) factors into the business. To ensure conceptual consistency, the study distinguishes between the ESG performance indicators, the CSR activities and sustainable development goals. Methods The Web of Science Core Collection database was used to implement a bibliometric analysis on the collected publications from 2008 to 2024. The search strategy involved of words such as keywords linked to sustainable business practices, ESG, CSR, sustainability, and Arab countries. Studies that were not peer-reviewed or in English were excluded and duplicate studies were excluded agreeing to PRISMA criteria. A final dataset of 220 publications was analyzed using the co-citation analysis, keyword co-occurrence analysis and thematic cluster analysis provided by the VOS viewer software. Results Saudi Arabia, UAE and Egypt were the top contributors. The themes were ESG disclosure, CSR, renewable energy, governance, and environmental sustainability. New themes were green finance, digital transformation, artificial intelligence and sustainable innovation. Originality/Implications The study maps the distribution of sustainability research in the region of Arab countries and suggests policy suggestions for integrating ESG and sustainable governance in the region and future research development.